Maria Grazia Chiuri is Christian Dior’s first female creative director in the fashion house’s entire 70-year history.
She stepped down from her role as co-creative director of Valentino and joined Dior in the same position.
According to Teen Vogue, last Friday Maria debuted her new line for Paris Fashion Week on the runway.
This was not all: The line had a not-so-underlying message.
The models strutted down the runway with T-shirts that read, “We should all be feminists.”
Booth tweeted, “’Feminist is a recurring word for her.’ @Dior show notes say of first female head of house Maria Grazia Chiuri, making runway debut shortly.”
The fashion world is definitely getting quite a message; the line is referenced from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2013 Ted Talk, who was guest of honor at the debut.
A slew of celebrities sat front row including Diane Kruger, Marion Cotillard, Rihanna and Bianca Jagger.
This quote can even be heard in the song “Flawless” from Beyoncé’s surprise album.
Another T-shirt reading “Dio(R) Evolution” also made an appearance on the runway.
“I believe fashion should not impose itself on the person who wears it, but be used by them as a way to express themselves,” New York Times reported Maria said the day before the show.
If a girl-power inspired show doesn’t tell you enough about Maria, then here’s more.
Maria has kept a low-personal profile until now.
She previously worked at Valentino with her 20-year design partner Pierpaolo Piccioli, later becoming the co-creative director of the Italian house in 2007.
Businessoffashion.com wrote that Maria studied at the Instituto Europeo Di Design before working at Fendi in 1989 being part of the team that created the famous “baguette” bag.
According to Vogue, Maria is a down-to-earth, friendly and modern Italian woman who jumped on her Vespa and would scoot herself to work at Valentino headquarters in Rome, her home city.
Maria is married to Paolo Reigni, a shirtmaking atelier, and together they have a son named Nicolo and a daughter named Rachele.
You might find yourself wondering does having a female designer in charge make a difference.
The irony is that an industry that caters to women has never been run by a woman.
Some may even say that her bold feminism message is in relation to the current presidential campaign with the first female candidate, Hillary Clinton.
New York Times reported that Maria said her primary consideration in taking on the Dior job was the ability to show the next generation that it had “the same opportunities,” no matter what gender.
In the show notes, Maria explained that she simply strives to make clothes ready to wear for women, “fashion that corresponds to their changing needs, freed from the stereotypes categories of ‘masculing/feminine, young/not so young,’ ‘reason/emotion,’ which nonetheless also happen to be complementary aspects.”
It is safe to say that Dior’s first-ever female designer has officially began her reign with a feminist message.