English Version | What's Next: Art be a Lady, tonight

In the spectrum of fashion houses that have a timeless portfolio that serves as their signature, Dior's quintessential model will undoubtedly be their Lady Dior. The house's it bag, a testament to the French brand's savoir-faire palpable in the nobility of its impeccable materials and finishing touches, as well as the Dior style evident in its refined design, intersects with the story of Princess Diana to discover its name: in September 1995, Lady Diana, visiting Paris to see the Paul Cézanne retrospective at the Grand Palais, was presented with a Dior bag to use at official events in the capital city and it ended up becoming one of her favorite accessories, even being captured in a now iconic photo of her visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November of that year. Appearances with the model followed one another and Diana even ordered the item in other colors, forever connecting with this object of desire and inspiring its name as we know it today. Nowadays, Lady Dior has a recognizable appearance that does not lose elegance over time, nor does it become dated even as the decades pass - quite the contrary, its timelessness makes Lady Dior an heirloom that passes from generation to generation, never stagnating in time.

This does not mean that its eternal nature is synonymous with immutability or limited versatility. Not at all, in fact: its famous features have been reinterpreted by the brand season after season (without undermining its identifiable icon factor), but also, since 2016, by strong names in the field of the arts, for the Dior Lady Art project. These talents personalize the model in a partnership that unites the maison's vision with the artist's one. In this Dior Lady Art #9, the symbiosis is once again celebrated. The symbolic must-have bag is the target of new concepts that transcend the boundaries of invention in this initiative that gives carte blanche to several international guests to revisit this exceptional purse that becomes a blank canvas for their imagination. One where they can put a little of their universe and their singularity, or better yet, where they can unite their universe with that of Dior, unite their singularity with that of Dior. For what is already the 9th edition of this idea, the Peruvian Sara Flores and her ancient visual language kené, the North American Jeffrey Gibson and his eclectic chromatic palette and multiplicity of textures, South Korean Woo Kukwon with a work that varies from oil paintings and drawings on paper to installations, American Danielle McKinney with her cinematography, Vietnamese Duy Anh Nhan Duc with Nature as his matrix, the Turkish-American Hayal Pozanti with her abstract paintings, American and social activist Faith Ringgold and her mastery with textiles, American Vaughn Spann and his figurative abstractionism that explores American history, culture and identity, Canadian Anna Weyant with her surrealism and mystery, Chinese Liang Yuanwei with her interpretations of the passage of time and Chinese Huang Yuxing, with his vibrant illustrations that combine fantasy and reality, appropriates Lady Dior as an emblem of a poetic metamorphosis that translates each person's unique narrative. Reflecting the values ​​of both - object and creator -, each reinterpretation is a true challenge that requires boldness, meticulous detail and knowing how to combine excellence and imagination to make the French brand's philosophy stand out. And, above all, leaving a fingerprint that adds to the DNA of a model that is legendary.

For this new chapter, Sara Flores, for example, wanted to highlight the skills and legacy of her community in Peru by imagining two bags with details that echo her personal paintings, where she uses plant pigments on canvas. The aesthetic of its design with a subtly embroidered serpentine motif - characteristic of indigenous peoples - alludes to the multiple beauty of these ancestral customs. Jeffrey Gibson transposed his unique universe to Lady Dior in a POP metamorphosis inspired by his punching bags revisited as art installations: these two symbolic accessories - from sport and fashion - are an ode to love, translated into a series of elements such as padlocks in the shape of a heart and an inscription that reads “love, love, love”. Woo Kukwon's perspective places characters representing his wife, daughter and dog in these two medium format pieces, populating charming spaces; from the starry sky to the cherry blossom trees, the artist here places allusions to his favorite things. Artist Danielle Mckinney reproduces the emblematic texture of her canvases, with virtuoso hand-embroidered details, in a stunning result that appeals to the eye and touch. And Duy Anh Nhan Duc reinterpreted the model to reflect his passion for the botanical kingdom, namely wild plants, the essence of his work: he dressed his Lady Dior with a profusion of flowers and seeds engraved in vegan leather, finished with the Vietnamese's signature detail - a dandelion that serves as a secret talisman. Hayal Pozanti's three pieces translate his vision of nature as a sensorial and interpretative subject, reflecting dreamlike journeys into the heart of the mountains. The clutch, in particular, representing a shower of comets, sees its interior covered in mirrors to offer a reading of oneself and the earth. Faith Ringgold's interpretation is special as this collection is a posthumous tribute: the legendary artist collaborated on six extraordinary pieces before her recent passing in April of this year. In an obvious reference to her known activism, allusions to her life and the social and political history of the United States appear more or less obviously, ending with a quote from Ringgold: “Anyone can fly, all you have to do is try.” In the case of Vaughn Spann, the artist plays with the codes of masculine and feminine, with a nod to the pop aesthetics of the 80s, also a trademark of his work, still playing with volumes and geometries. Anna Weyant translates in this reinterpretation the adventure and melancholy of her work, making the best use of the excellence of the Dior ateliers by incorporating countless details that are a pleasure to discover. Liang Yuanwei, in turn, took inspiration from his Song Dynasty series Impasto Golden Notes and Ru Ware, incorporating two-dimensional frames into the iconic three-dimensional accessory and using techniques and materials such as resin and 3D printing to reference both his inspirations and his background and art. And finally, Huang Yuxing, for his Lady Dior models, echoed psychedelic elements from his paintings Heaven and The Earth (2016-2020) and The Galaxy (2017-2021) for a result that has a touch of Sci-Fi and futurism: the golden finishes highlight the finesse of Chinese goldsmithing.

In this alchemy that combines Dior's heritage with creative freedom, everyone wins, but above all, the passion for culture from the four corners of the world and the passion for art - and for designer fashion - always emerge victorious.

Translated from the original in the What's Next Issue, published December 2024. Full credits and stories in the print issue.