[Female gaze] Maria Grazia Chiuri discusses how she chose to work exclusively with women photographers and creatives at Dior

Welcome to this first episode of the new Dior Talks series ‘The Female Gaze’. With the term developed in response to the writings of feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, this podcast series will explore how the work of the female photographers and creatives collaborating with Dior offers a radically new and progressive image of women. 

In this episode, series host Charlotte Jansen, a British journalist and author, speaks with Maria Grazia Chiuri about how the Creative Director of Women’s collections has initiated a new dialogue around the perception of women by women in the 21st century.

Upon arriving at the House, Maria Grazia Chiuri made the idea of the female gaze an essential part of her work. Aware that the DNA of Dior is defined by femininity, she set out to explore how to make this correspond to her world view and chose to work solely with female photographers, writers and artists, which proved a surprisingly revolutionary concept. As she notes of her own experience, women behave differently when they are the subject of a female photographer. With the fashion world dominated by male image makers, she called on a wide variety of talents, some renowned in other areas – such as the war photographer Christine Spengler – and others much more under the radar, with the condition that they be given creative free rein in their interpretation of her work. Dior is a name recognized all over the world, so it was key to seek out an equally international roster of talents to convey non-stereotypical representations of Dior femininity, celebrating differences and rewriting preconceptions. 

Discover a selection of works: 

Laura Mulvey, « Visual pleasure and narrative cinema », Screen, n°16, Autumn 1975

Cindy Sherman, Untitled film stills, 1977-1980 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/56618

- Dior Cruise 2020 x Ruth Ginka Ossai  https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/wjwv59/dior-new-cruise-campaign-modern-african-photography-female-gazehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c40oibKskX8&list=PLzPXOOq1r2gFjNSl4siIBfzMLrSUcRBr0&index=5&t=0s

« Feminine, plural » : the women photographers shooting the Dior Cruise 2020 collection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABcBejpQ7UQ&list=PLzPXOOq1r2gFjNSl4siIBfzMLrSUcRBr0&index=1

Deborah Tuberville ( 1932-2013) https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/recherche/type/oeuvre/auteur/Turbeville%2C%20Deborah

- Dior Autumn-Winter 2018 x Christine Spengler https://www.dior.com/diormag/it_it/article/intervista-christine-spengler

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider : Essais and Speeches, 1984https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/314/314706/sister-outsider/9780241410509.html

- “Girl On Girl”, Charlotte Jansen https://smarturl.it/girlongirl