Pathé Ouédraogo known as Pathé O , one of Africa s greatest fashion designers and the man whose iconic brightly colored patterned shirts have become symbols of the continent and its cultural diversity, was asked to design an exclusive piece as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. Maria Grazia Chiuri also collaborated with two creative powerhouses, using their perspectives to reinterpret the Maison s iconic New Look silhouette, the Bar jacket and skirt. The first, fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, was born in London to a British mother and Jamaican father. Her work explores her own identity through her conception of tailoring and its references, blurring the lines between masculinity and femininity. The second, African-American artist Mickalene Thomas, celebrates the many facets of femininity and diversity by drawing inspiration from her mother, who was a model in the 1970s. Mickalene Thomas references great European painters from Ingres to Manet, and designs colorful col- lages that question social norms and preconceived notions of female beauty. Dior s milliner Stephen Jones designed a range of head- wear. Like an ode to travel, the wax print headwraps and bandanas he imagined in collaboration with fashion designer Martine Henry crowned the silhouettes of this 2020 Cruise collection. For the show s decor, the Maison collaborated with Sumano, a nonprofit that aims to revive the traditional women s crafts of Moroccan tribes, in particular painted ceramics and the art of weaving and vegetable dyeing. This collaboration with Dior resulted in the creation of painted ceramic plates, pillows and a hand-woven, hand- painted coat.
With the 2020 Cruise collection, Maria Grazia Chiuri
maps out an imaginary landscape of culture and emotion.
