She was 18, and remembers wearing a t-shirt with the words KILLER printed across the chest.
Chiuri is back in the city to present herpre-fall 2024collection on the runway tonight at the Brooklyn Museum.
Theres no longer smoking in the skies, but her bright-eyed excitement about New York has remained unshaken.
Photo: Emma Anderson / Courtesy of Christian Dior
I have big emotions, its my first show in New York, said the designer.
Dior New York offered simpler, more casual iterations of the couture the designer presented in Paris.
Maria Grazia Chiuri in New York.
Maria Grazia Chiuri in New York.
Lets start with the locationwhy did you decide to host the show at the Brooklyn Museum?
The Brooklyn Museum is a place where they are well represented.
A personal favorite is the incredible Judy Chicago The Dinner Party installation.
Christian Dior, pre-fall 2024.
It is incredible, because she really celebrated all the women in history that others might have forgotten.
But its also how she realized it, with a dinner table as a monumental piece of art.
I grew up with the idea of New York and London, because they are such metropolitan cities.
Christian Dior, pre-fall 2024.
I came for the first time, I think, when I was 18 years old.
I remember you could even smoke in the plane!
So we are speaking about another era.
Christian Dior, pre-fall 2024.
We didnt have big department stores [in Italy], so we toured those.
The idea of community is very strong in New York.
Christian Dior, pre-fall 2024.
Christian Dior arriving to New York City in March of 1950.
Is that your favorite thing about New Yorkers?
Yes, you never feel alone.
And everybody has a story.
Marlene Dietrich greets Mr. Dior at one of his fashion shows in Paris, August 1955.
How would you define New York style?
My obsession is sportswear.
I remember on my tour when I was young I went to Gap.
And then to Levis downtown, where you could do your special pair.
I spent hours inside because Im obsessed with denim.
I love sportswear, its evident.
New York is a city all about sportswear.
New York is very much the genesis of sportswear, I think.
It feels like your point of view on fashion is very aligned with that.
Here you could live in different ways in different parts of the city.
I remember when I came with the past label where I worked.
Jackie Kennedy was an icon and was very close with Valentino [Garavani].
At the same time we have an image that is strong that comes from the magazines here.
One of my favorite fun facts about the house of Dior is Dior New York.
Introduce more pockets, take off some corsets, and make it more easy to wear.
In some way, it was the first idea of pret-a porter.
And they sentMarc Bohanhere too.
It shows the very strong relationship between Dior and New York, but also between Paris and New York.
How did you fold the legacy of Dior New York into the show and the collection?
I thought that it would be interesting for me to give a shot to do the same trip.
We are speaking about the Second World War, so it was very distant to go to Australia.
The idea that this brand had to be international was so immediate.
It was a dream of mine to come here and realize the show.
Yes, and its also because now we are speaking about fashion with the idea we havenowabout fashion.
But before it was only couture, not easy to deliver, to find, to make.
Thats also why the exhibition was important, because you connect with how different life was at the time.
Now everything is streaming after one second and everybody sees.
What did you make out of it?
Marlene Dietrich was a really important reference to Mr. Dior, and I was fascinated by her.
Her use of masculine, feminine, sport, and glamorous looks to define herself.
Marlene Dietrich was close with Mr. Dior.
She bought a lot of jackets and invited him to dress her for films.
I was fascinated by this relationship.
Its very interesting for me to work on this reference.
Do you have a favorite Dietrich performance?
Langelo azzurro I think is very strong!
I think its something everybody, every performer, dreams of.
There are some women, some actresses, that are very close, like Liza Minelli.
These kinds of performances are like the atmosphere of New York as well.
The immediate image of the theater lights, and this performance on a major stage.
