Dior will exhibit at the “Gateway of India” monument in Mumbai

Dior is heading to India for its next fashion show.

On March 30, Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri will showcase the brand’s Pre-Fall 2023 collection at the landmark Gateway of India in Mumbai. The event will be the first time that a European luxury mega-brand has held a major stand-alone show in the country.

The collection, which will be available in stores from the end of April, includes silk dresses, evening coats and sari-inspired skirts that reference traditional Indian silhouettes. Some pieces are adorned with intricate embroidery by Chanakya, a Mumbai-based workshop and craft school for women. The workshop, led by Karishma Swaliprovided surface embellishments for a number of luxury brands and fashion houses over the years and produced monumental backdrops for some of Chiuri’s Paris catwalks.

The distant setting is designed to highlight the role that Chiuri’s ongoing collaboration with Chanakya continues to play in her work at Dior, the designer said. Several European luxury brands have used workshops in India to do exquisite handwork for the catwalk, but some shroud their suppliers in secrecy while others have faces criticism to underestimate craftsmen.

“To me, showing in India also means celebrating India’s heritage in embroidery and the importance [it is] in the fashion world,” Chiuri told BoF. In recent years, Dior’s parent company LVMH has opened several of its French workshops to the public under a program called Special Days. Chiuri said she wanted to bring this idea to “another country that is very important in the fashion system.”

The focus on global craftsmanship is part of Chiuri’s formula for success, which has propelled the 76-year-old Dior to new heights, more than tripling its annual revenue since hitting around 8.8 billion euros ($9.4 billion) last year, according to HSBC estimates. Over the past few seasons, Chiuri has engaged with local artisans around the world to inspire and even produce limited-edition designs for Dior’s cruise collections, which she has staged in Morocco, Greece and Spain. Spain.

Works produced in partnership with Chanakya include huge embroidered panels designed by Judy Chicago as a backdrop to the Dior Spring/Summer 2020 show.

The partnership with Chanakya also reflects Chiuri’s mission to make Dior not only feminine in its sensibility, but also feminist in its values: Indian artisans of garment embellishment, known as karigares, are traditionally masculine. Chanakya School of Craft’s mission to equip women in low-income groups with the skills to earn a living in the industry resonates strongly with the feminist message that the designer – Dior’s first-ever artistic director – has striven to advance by collaborating with women artists. , photographers and artisans.

“It really is a brotherhood project,” Chiuri said.

The Mumbai exit also makes business sense. Traveling shows have become a key tool for luxury brands to produce memorable marketing moments with the “wow” factor to stand out on social media. They can also be a way for brands to activate key geographies, signaling a desire to deepen ties with a market and offering a chance to engage high-spending local customers. While luxury shopping is expected to slow in Western markets like the US and Europe this year, many brands are looking to expand further.

India, in particular, is seen as a country with high growth potential, with demand for luxury goods among Indians set to explode over the next decade. Bain estimates that luxury spending by Indian consumers will reach 25-30 billion euros by 2030, up from less than 8 billion euros last year, although the majority of this spending will occur abroad, as the Indian luxury sector continues to face limited retail infrastructure, high import obligations and operational complexities ranging from a bureaucratic regulatory environment to investment constraints, which make it difficult for foreign brands to do business without a local partner.

The symbolic value of Dior holding a show at Mumbai’s Gateway of India landmark could be significant, such as when Fendi staged a fashion show on the Great Wall of China in 2007, a move that foreshadowed the importance of Chinese consumers to the world. luxury industry over the next decade.

For Chiuri, however, the motivation was more personal.

“Fashion is much more than 10 minutes on the catwalk. It’s all the people working together on this amazing project,” she said. “I’m doing this show out of love for this country and how much they support my creativity. It’s really something very personal.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 14 to clarify that Chanakya did not collaborate with Dior on its Fall/Winter 2024 show set. LVMH is part of a group of investors who together hold a stake minority in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholder documentation guaranteeing the complete editorial independence of BoF.