During Paris Fashion Week last month, Dior artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri chicly reinterpreted the house’s 1950s codes. The scenography, however, tapped into another dimension entirely thanks to the creative vision of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos installed a hallucinatory stalactite-like sculpture that served as the undeniably explosive backdrop for the Fall 2023 collection.
Ornamental, globular and giant, Valkyrie Miss Dior stood 23 feet high and about 78 feet long, permeating the temporary space of the Jardin des Tuileries. Was it an alien landscape or the interior of an otherworldly organism? Perhaps a pan-national arts and crafts beast? The interpretation depended on the viewer. But one thing was certain: Vasconcelos beat all the other contenders for the “set of the season” hands down.
Immersive sculpture and fashion show by Joana Vasconcelos. Photo: Adrian Dirand.
The hanging piece consisted of steel cables, hook, LED lights, fans, inflatables and fabrics in 20 different Dior floral designs. Vasconcelos is inclined to oversize his work.
“I don’t do scale for scale, says the artist, but to convey a message through a chosen object. My work is very much based on the decontextualization of everyday objects. The monumental scale is generally considered male territory and there are barriers to break down.
The ornamental extraterrestrial landscape by Joana Vasconcelos for Dior. Photo: Adrian Dirand.
Valkyrie Miss Dior joins a pantheon of over 30 of the towering warrior goddesses that Vasconcelos has created for installations as far away as Macau in Bilbao (where she had a retrospective in 2018″I am your mirrorat the Guggenheim). “They all have different themes, honoring women who have made a difference in the world,” says Vasconcelos, “just as female figures in Norse mythology would lift up brave warriors slain on the battlefield, leading them to join the deities of Valhalla.” Valkyrie Miss Dior is a tribute to the sister of the founder of the house, Catherine Dior, florist and French resistance fighter in the Second World War who received the National Order of the Legion of Honor. Entrance of Vasconcelos to the Venice Biennale 2005 The bride, a baroque chandelier made of 25,000 stamps, caught his international attention.
The looks from the Fall 2023 collection stand out against the installation’s dangling ornamental globules, resembling tonsils. Courtesy of Dior.
The artist has found in Chiuri a true ally who has made explicit feminist overtures in all of her collections since becoming Dior’s first female artistic director in 2018. One of the key tenets of her tenure has been to collaborate with women artists and to enable them to carry out their respective projects. visions.
The Dior Valkyrie is just a highlight for Vasconcelos this year. In April, she will have a personal exhibition at Beijing’s Tang Contemporary Art followed by her Tree of life installation at the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes in Paris. Its gargantuan Wedding cake will rise at Waddesdon Manor, England in June, then his next solo exhibition will begin in October at Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy. She took a moment to tell us about Dior and explain her vibe.
The artist Joana Vasconcelos. Photo: Arlindo Camacho.
Your work mixes disciplines that overlap with fashion (sewing, knitting, textile work). Do you follow fashion and does it influence your work?
Fashion is a very important part of my life. I actually started showing my work at Lisbon’s Manobras de Maio in 1994, a parade for young designers, with a very counter-current, avant-garde and interventionist spirit. At the time, I produced a series of portable polystyrene sculptural pieces called Bunis. A kind of colorful, organic, bulbous headgear, they represented a cross between jewelry – which I studied – and sculpture.
Today, a large part of my work is linked to the world of textiles and it is therefore natural that obvious affinities with fashion arise. The textile element is a common thread here, and plays a very important role, alongside the craftsmanship also associated with fashion houses. Indeed, I question the masculine definition of noble materials in art. For me, textiles are as noble as iron, stone or wood – maybe even more.
Along with otherworldly artwork, the set also included fabulous custom seating. Photo: Adrian Dirand.
What really struck me in the Dior set is this dichotomy between handmade/ornamental and organic. I had the impression that this structure was imitating a form of life. It was as if a fashion show was taking place inside a body.
It’s interesting that you saw it that way. Many people have asked if Valkyrie Miss Dior represented a plant, an animal or a part of the human anatomy, but all saw in it a living organism. I never really conceived of it as a static installation, what really interested me from the beginning was the interaction between the installation, the models and the audience, all coming together like a moving body , an almost sculptural choreography.
The grand finale Dior through the extraterrestrial landscape. Photo: Adrian Dirand.
The fashion show added a facet to your art, this swirling performative fashion experience. Tell me about this first-hand experience?
It was not the first time that I used dance for a work of art. I did this last year with Valkyrie Martha To lille3000, presented with a purposely created choreography. This stems from my firm belief that art should be interactive, inviting the public and/or other artists to join in the process, touch it, feel it, and create a dialogue with movement, music, or other artistic expressions in a performative way.
The set enhanced the collection as it also contrasted it a lot. Interstellar versus down-to-earth. What was it like working with Ms. Chiuri? Did your designs get informed?
No, they were completely different processes. Maria Grazia came to my studio in Lisbon last summer and we had a wonderful exchange of ideas. Maria Grazia is a major inspiration not only for her feminist positioning but also for her appreciation of craftsmanship, two causes that are also close to my heart. So when the invitation came, I showed him my Valkyries work and suggested that first and foremost we should honor a woman. Then I had carte blanche to create as I saw fit.
I was sent 20 fabrics from the collection and started creating the Valkyrie from there. They were all very floral and flowing, the colors ranging from red, blue, green, orange to yellow. I decided to choose a color, a texture and a different identity for each branch of the work. To enhance the colors of the fabrics, I added some sparkle through sequins and embroidery.
Joana Vasconcelos, Coração Independent (2016). Photo: Luis Vasconcelos
Crochet is a technique also very present in haute couture, accentuating the concept of contemporary revisiting the past, bringing back memories present in each of us and transporting them into the future. It was a dialogue with absolute freedom, a great way to collaborate, creating a bridge between fashion and visual arts.
Joana Vasconcelos, Golden Valkyriee (2012) in Versailles. Photo: Luis Vasconcelos
There seemed to be a Wizard of Oz dramatic revelation, when this vague pre-show black and white constellation transformed into this multicolored organism. You’ve done large-scale projects before, but this seems to have been a very Hollywood mega-production. What was it like working with Dior on this?
It was amazing. They are very professional and overall it was a very respectful approach, where the creative process is honored every step of the way. The energy created throughout the various stages really shone through the show as everything and everyone came together.
I am very proud of this piece. It’s a testament to incredible collaboration, to the great things that can happen when people come together and work together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
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