A spontaneous applause erupted in Rome’s Teatro Dell’Opera on Thursday evening as the curtain went up on Nuit Blanche. Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first foray into costume design for Dior, it’s as if the ballet was written for the sporty elegance she has derived from the house’s genetics.
The first tableau revealed the costumes in all their handcrafted glory, paraded statically on dancers in a magical smoke-filled mise-en-scène made up entirely of ballerina bodies. Chiuri’s signature tulle skirt takes on Dior’s classic silhouette were adorned in fairytale haute couture floral embroidery, male dancers’ transparent tricots likewise. “My reference for the shape was Miss Dior,” she said before the performance, staged – and performed by – Eleonora Abbagnato with choreography by Sébastian Bertaud and music by Philip Glass. “We wanted to use the flower embroideries on tulle that I used in my first couture show for Dior, but also for the jumpsuits. In order to do that we had to find tulle that was light and stretchy but transparent at the same time. Maintaining that lightness and comfort was a real challenge.”
Dance has become an increasing fascination for Chiuri since her spring/summer 2019 show, which received critics’ nods for its performance arts elements and interpretation of the dancer’s wardrobe. “But this is classic dance,” the designer pointed out. “The movements between the dancers are completely different. You have to understand it. You have to work together. The decoration here is a couture job whereas what we did for the dance show was more technical and sporty. This is sporty but with traditional craftsmanship. The classic ballet, for me, is close to couture.”
Imbuing an everyday wardrobe with the technical codes of dance – movement, comfort, elegance – is a cornerstone in Chiuri’s approach to a contemporary Dior, in which she still draws on the original 1940s and 1950s silhouette. And it’s a connection that makes sense. “I try to define the Dior codes because they’re very dear to me, but I translate them in my own point of view. Because fashion today is another story. It’s not like in the past. When we talk about the Dior codes, are we speaking about the first 10 years or all 70?”
If she was referring to the differences between her take on theatricality and those of her predecessors at Dior, she had a point: Chiuri’s idea of theatre couldn’t be farther from the drama of John Galliano, for instance, but as Nuit Blanche illustrated, her interest in the stage is rooted in something entirely different. Chiuri approaches her curiosity for the performing arts like a study of functionality and wearability, words she’s not afraid to use. “You want clothes you can move in and feel beautiful and confident in. English culture, for instance, is more theatrical than Italian culture,” the Roman designer said. “When you think of Italian designers, I don’t remember any Italian designer that wasn’t wearable. Even Franco Moschino. He broke the rules of the system but he wasn’t unwearable.” The simplicity of her approach was perhaps best reflected in the costume of the lead male dancer Friedemann Vogel, who appeared – bathed in white light cutting through the smoke – in little more than a tricot legging and his naked alabaster torso. He engaged with Abbagnato in a lovers’ dance that was nothing less than spellbinding.
For Chiuri, who seemed over the moon to move office to her native Rome for the evening (“Rome is my comfort zone”), Nuit Blanche was more than an exercise in stage costume. “Fashion speaking about another art form like ballet can help institutions like the opera. For a brand to make clothes for a ballet helps to invite a new generation to come to the opera, which is perhaps considered a little bit old. The young generation doesn’t really go out to experience things because it’s easier to stay in with your TV,” she said. “There’s a risk that we’re losing a new generation of audiences. In Italy the young generation is crazy about talent shows on TV, so they’re more likely to watch ballet through a talent show than going to the opera. We have to convince that generation that it’s not just about TV.”
Chiuri saw her first ballet when she was 14. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I went with two friends. We were curious,” she recalled. “I was infatuated with the atmosphere. It was something so different to see something so real.” But she admitted it wasn’t until she rediscovered the art form through her work for Dior that she realised just how much she identifies with dance. “It’s an expression of freedom. Everybody dances. It’s a natural attitude. If you look at children around the world, they all dance. It’s very human.”
