Rabat – Last night Dior presented its dazzling new collection at the historical ruins of El Badii Palace in Marrakech.
Over 100 models walked the runway on Monday, April 29, around an enormous 16th-century outdoor pool lit up by hundreds of floating candles.
Titled “Common Ground,” the collection by Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri showcased colors, patterns, and cuts with a clear African influence. Its main inspiration was wax fabric, the colorful, patterned cloth synonymous with vibrant sub-Saharan Africa.
“Maria Grazia Chiuri has always had her heart set on establishing creative exchanges with African cultures,” a Dior representative said.
“With this collection, she sought to dialogue with the real and imagined landscape of Morocco, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, as a dream destination for artists, poets, writers and eternal adventurers.”
Chiuri consulted with French anthropologist Anne Grosfilley on the beautiful African wax fabrics which are used as a form of communication and expression.
“Wax celebrates diversity; it is the fabric of a meeting of cultures,” says Dior.
Chiuri collaborated with Uniwax, a wax design studio and factory from Cote d’Ivoire, to reinvent Dior fabrics, including revisiting the flagship Toile de Jouy.
She also collaborated with designer Pathe’O from Burkina Faso, who is known for dressing Nelson Mandela.
The show also paid homage to Morocco, collaborating on the set-up with Sumano, an association that promotes traditional ceramic from the northern Rif Mountains and weaving from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, and with ceramic company Bouchra Boudoua.
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“Fashion is a unique blend, inspired by innumerable places and times, which come together to create a new vision,” says Dior.
Some 800 guests attended the show, including celebrities Jessica Alba, Lupita Nyong’o, Karlie Kloss, and Shailene Woodley.
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