Dior have announced that Maria Grazia Chiuri will be their new artistic director. She will be the first woman, in the French fashion house’s 59 year history, to take that position. Chiuri takes the place of Raf Simons who departed in October.
Yesterday it was announced that Chiuri had left Valentino, where she was co-creative director with partner Pierpaolo Piccioli.
Chiuri worked with Piccioli for 25 years, first at Fendi then behind the scenes at Valentino. They were named creative directors in 2008 and were credited with bringing the label into a new era, and on to the backs of starlets such as Alexa Chung and Anne Hathaway. The duo’s aesthetic was about romance with an edge of cool, as Wednesday’s couture show – their final collaboration – demonstrated. Based on Shakespearean heroines, crisp shirting and cropped jackets brought 400-year-old characters up to date.
In a joint statement, Chiuri and Piccioli said: “After 25 years of creative partnership and of professional satisfactions we gave ourselves the opportunity of continuing our artistic paths in an individual way with the reciprocal desire of further great achievements.” Piccioli will now be the sole creative director of Valentino.
Chiuri’s work at Valentino not only gained a new younger celebrity following – it was been backed up with sales. In the first quarter of 2016, Valentino’s sales rose by 9%. Christian Dior’s parent company, LVMH, will be hoping that Chiuri will have the same effect on sales there. She beat other contenders for the highly prized job, including Alexander McQueen designer Sarah Burton and ex-Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz. Her first ready to wear collection will take place on September 30 in Paris.
