Dior Collaborations

Judy Chicago has collaborated with the international fashion house, Dior, on two separate projects: the set design for their Spring-Summer 2020 Haute Couture show, at the invitation of Creative Director of women’s collections, Maria Grazia-Chiuri, and later that year created designs for a series of Lady Dior purses.

Visitors of the couture show entered Chicago’s 250 foot long goddess, The Female Divine, built on site in the garden of the Museé Rodin in Paris. The structure’s interior floor was covered by a regal mille fleur design taken directly from the drawing for the Eleanor of Aquitane runner from The Dinner Party. This symbolic catwalk was lined by two sets of hanging banners with appliquéd and hand embroidered questions, one side in English, the other in French, that considered how society might be different if women were humankind’s political and spiritual leaders. This series of profound questions led to a massive banner, measuring 17 by 12 feet, asking the ultimate question “What if Women Ruled the World?”

Chicago collaborated with Dior a second time for the fifth edition of the Dior Lady Art project to customize a limited edition run of handbags. She adapted three paintings, Let It All Hang Out, Queen Victoria, and Christine of Sweden, to create bags of three different sizes. Placing the titles of these works on the bottom of the purses serves as another unique avenue to teach women’s history.