THE SPRING-SUMMER 2017 DIOR COLLECTION POP-UP STORES

To mark the arrival of the spring-summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection, the first designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior, the House is opening a series of pop-up stores around the world and also presenting its most emblematic pieces in a selection of concept stores. The Dior heritage is revisited in a contemporary spirit, these ephemeral spaces reinventing the House codes with modernity, notably through an association with the artists Tracey Emin and Maripol.

POP-UP STORES

Los Angeles is the location for our first pop-up store, opening 25 February, followed by Paris from 27 February, at 44 Avenue Montaigne, a few steps from the House’s historic address, before the opening of other ephemeral stores in Japan, Dubai, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai, along with special projects with prestigious concept stores including Colette, The Corner, Antonia, The Webster and Maxfield. Outfits inspired by fencing uniforms, embroidered PRESENTS THE SPRING-SUMMER 2017 COLLECTION POP-UP STORES THE SPRING-SUMMER 2017 COLLECTION POP-UP STORES tulle dresses evoking Monsieur Dior’s superstitious nature, the revisited Bar suits, t-shirts bearing the manifesto-like inscription “We should all be feminists” and the iconic accessories designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri for today’s women are presented in a pared-down and graphic setting. For this new era in the House’s history, the Dior codes have been reinterpreted with modernity: the white and gray shades, signatures of the emblematic 30 Avenue Montaigne address, are associated with pieces of contemporary furniture and a raw look in wood, brass and concrete.

SHOULD LOVE LAST, AN ARTWORK BY TRACEY EMIN AT THE 44 AVENUE MONTAIGNE POP-UP STORE

Specially for the Paris pop-up, the feminist artist Tracey Emin created a luminous work, in which the three words “Should love last” , written in neon yellow in the manner of her own handwriting, grab the visitor’s attention. Enfant terrible of the 1990s British scene, Tracey Emin is today one of the art world’s grandes dames; her feminist discourse and her artistic output led to her being elevated to the rank of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. Ranging from painting to drawing, video installations to photography, embroidery to sculpture, her profoundly poetic work explores the emotions she has experienced and tackles the female condition without taboos. Her creation for Dior is part of a series of neons begun in 1995, which feature short phrases or poems. Regarding Should Love Last and the mysterious nature of this seemingly unfinished phrase, the artist explains, “My best neons are there to give people ideas and make people think things through. ‘Should Love Last’. First of all it sounds negative. But actually, for me, it’s very positive, because my answer would be, «Yes, it should. It should last. Forever.» So you don’t need a question mark at the end of that.

 

CONCEPT STORES, WITH POLAROIDS BY MARIPOL

Colette in Paris, The Webster in Miami, Maxfield in Los Angeles, Antonia in Milan and The Corner in Berlin were also chosen by Dior to unveil its ready-to-wear spring-summer 2017 collection. The House is highlighting the polaroids and exclusive videos made by the French photographer Maripol for promotion on social networks and via an invitation. The polaroids were taken backstage at the show, in which the photographer delivers her vision of the first Dior collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri along with an exclusive video. What one discovers is the particular aesthetic of this 1980s party girl known notably for being the stylist to Madonna and the friend of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The artist utilized the square format and the dulled colors of the polaroids to assemble silhouette details and reconstitute the collection’s looks in new collages. On the subject of her work, Maripol explains: “For me, the Dior woman is a woman living in the moment. She is active and independent, with real personality, but never forgets that she is feminine. I interpreted this collection with what I know best: my faithful Polaroid. I am a child of Andy Warhol and he inspired me a lot, and it was important for me to saturate the colors in order to bring a vintage effect to the snapshots to capture these young beauties from a different angle with the focus on the faces, the details and the clothes.” Maria Grazia Chiuri, a friend of Maripol and an admirer of her work, states: “For me, Maripol, an American THE SPRING-SUMMER 2017 COLLECTION POP-UP STORES from France, is synonymous with a world that has always fascinated me: she’s worked with incredible artists like Fiorucci, Madonna, Keith Haring, Basquiat and Blondie in the melting pot of talent and desire that was New York’s Studio 54. I feel a bond of friendship and affection with her. That’s why I asked her to take my first official portrait for Dior and why I wanted her at my side to capture the emotions of my first show. Her unconventional gaze, full of love and passion, perfectly renders that feminine complexity I want to convey.”

Visitors to each concept store are greeted by exclusive window displays. The collection’s emblematic creations are showcased with modernity and a graphic aesthetic. They recapture the mood of the pop-up stores’ decoration – white and Dior gray mixed with raw materials such as wood, concrete and brass – while the messages from the collection’s t-shirts are written in luminous letters – “We should all be feminists”, “Dio(r)evolution” and “J’adior”.

 

Credit: Dior