Maria Grazia Chiuri brought the Dior cruise collection to Rome, where she presented a show for the first time in ten years. Would it be her last?

We have waited with bated breath. Since speculation emerged towards the end of last year that Maria Grazia Chiuri’s days were numbered and that the cruise collection in Rome yesterday would be her last, we have waited for this moment to arrive. Lest we are mistaken, we do not wish Ms Chiuri ill, but regular readers of SOTD would be aware that we were keen for a change of hands at Dior for a very long time. In fact, many in the fashion industry are viewing the rain-soaked (again?) Rome show as Ms Chiuri’s wet swansong after a nine-year tenure that has been described as “successful”. The decision to hold the show in her hometown of Rome is also seen as a symbolic and personal closing of a chapter for the divisive designer.

Rome was a long time coming—ten, in fact. Ms Chiuri has always been proud of her Italian roots and as a donna italiana, especially so as one working in a quintessential French maison. She has shown in Italy before, but not in the city of the Coliseum. The decision to hold the show in her hometown of Rome is also seen as leaving behind her recent past to go back to where she began. This season, however, Dior did not livestream the show. Instead, they released a 12-minute reel by the Italian (of course) film-maker Matteo Garrone, as if it was back to the months of the COVID pandemic. Shot in the gardens of the private, 18th-century Villa Albani Torlonia in the capital city, the film overly romantised what would have been a typically innocuous MGC collection by way of vague Renaissance references.

The choice of the cinematic presentation (even when there was an IRL show for guests) oddly came at a time when, at the just-concluded Cannes Film Festival, “nude dresses” were banned on the red carpet. Ms Chiuri showed such dresses, more than ever before. Of the 80 looks, at least 56 revealed the body underneath (or hinted at it through vaguely trompe l’oeil effects). If this was indeed her swansong, Ms Chiuri was probably more concerned with setting the narrative of her last collection than with the specific dress code of a single film festival, although one that shares the same sol as Dior. There was a surfeit of lace, as well as her usual love of unstirring and muddy colours, within which was the unsurprising counterpoint of military styles. And those lean silhouettes she has favoured at Valentino. It is rather telling that, despite the media’s praises of “beautiful” and “ethereal”, many reports dwell on the expected attendees, such as Natalie Portman and Rosmund Pike.

That Ms Chiuri may step down from Dior was, as expected, the chatter of the evening. Prior to the show, Maria Grazia Chiuri was in Rome for a separate, private task: to inaugurate the newly-restored Teatro della Cometa, which she and her family had bought under Palazzo della Cometa, the company that owns the buildings housing the theatre, since 2019. The investment indicates a deep, personal, and financial commitment, suggesting a long-term vision for the venture. If Ms Chiuri chooses to end her career with Dior, she could be a theatre impresario or even a costumer to the productions she desires to stage, and enjoy a different kind of creative fulfillment. This inauguration occurring concurrently with the Rome show solidifies the possibility of her departure as it offered a picture of a designer cleverly planning her next act, not just leaving a role, but stepping into a new one, on home turf, no less.

Screen shot (top): stylenotcom/Instagram. Photos: Dior