Inspired by emblematic figures of Italian feminist art from the 1960s and 1970s, with the Christian Dior Fall 2020 RTW collection Maria Grazia Chiuri continues her questioning of the multiple and immutable links between the body, feminism and femininity.

Captivated by photos from her teenage years, the Creative Director envisioned an initiatory path to self-assertion, through art and fashion. Shaping the clothing, checks and polka dots, long and pleated skirts, and black and white forge a sense of liberation that bridges identity and sisterhood.

Checks resurface on an ensemble designed by Marc Bohan: it’s this outfit, with the motif placed on the bias, that inspired the structure of the collection’s skirts. There’s also the pea coat and pleated skirts. Little collars with ties. Black and white. All this is at the heart of a perfectly balanced collection. A polka dot scarf found in the Dior archives serves as the starting point for a series of dresses in various lengths that explore the print’s infinite possibilities.

Conceived by the collective artist Claire Fontaine, the Christian Dior Fall 2020 show scenography highlights the words ‘I Say I’ – translated from the manifesto ‘Io Dico Io’ by Carla Lonzi. The runway is covered with pages from the newspaper Le Monde, an adaptation of the work ‘Newsfloor’, titled ‘Le Monde Pixélisé’, after a Robert Capa photograph of the artist Henri Matisse in 1949, while luminous phrases are suspended like woke subtitles.

Maria Grazia Chiuri speaks about her influences, from her dressmaker mother to Marc Bohan and the Italian feminists of her youth, and how she channeled them all into what became a particularly personal collection.