Dior collaborated with African artists for its 2020 cruise show in Marrakech

Dior kicked off the cruise 2020 season in spectacular fashion on Monday evening with a resortwear show in a courtyard of the 16th-century El Badi Palace in Marrakech. 

The coming weeks will see brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada show their resortwear collections in New York, Gucci in Rome and Chanel, as ever, in Paris. 

But for Maria Grazia Chiuri, a show in Marrakech – the brand’s first major event in Morocco – was the fitting destination in which to show a collection that championed a cultural exchange between the codes of Dior and those of pan-African craftsmanship.

Rather than simply creating clothes inspired by Africa and African crafts, Chiuri’s theme was “common ground” – a celebration of different cultures coming together to co-create and find mutual understanding.

“Maria Grazia Chiuri has always had her heart set on establishing creative exchanges with African cultures,” Dior explained in a press release. “With this collection, she sought to dialogue with the real and imagined landscape of Morocco, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Europe and Africa, as a dream destination for artists, poets, writers and eternal adventurers.”

To this end, Chiuri consulted at length with Anne Grosfilley, an expert in African textiles and fashions and commissioned Abidjan-based company, Uniwax, to create an authentic wax print fabric use throughout the collection.  

Chirui also enlisted multiple female designers to help reimagine iconic Dior silhouettes, including British-Jamaican designer, Grace Wales Bonner, who put her own spin on the Bar jacket and New Look flared skirt. 

Other collaborators included African-American artist Mickalene Thomas and West-African designer Pathé Ouedraogo, who is best known for dressing Nelson Mandela. 

The show notes featured an extract from Tahar Ben Jelloun’s book, Racism Explained to My Daughter: “Culture teaches us to live together, teaches us that we’re not alone in the world, that other people have different traditions and ways of living that are just as valid as our own.”

The breathtaking venue saw models walk around a central pool filled with hundreds of floating candles and guests take their seats on artisanal painted cushions by local craftswomen.

Such guests included the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Jessica Alba, Karlie Kloss, Haim and Diana Ross, who also performed at the after party.

Scroll through the gallery above to see the full Dior Cruise 2020 collection