Maria Grazia Chiuri



Maria Grazia Chiuri (born 2 February 1964) is an Italian fashion designer. After stints working at Fendi and Valentino, Chiuri was named creative director at Dior in 2016.

Biography
Chiuri's father was in the military and her mother, a dressmaker, joined a sewing workshop at a young age before opening her own boutique in Rome, but pushed her daughter to study. She had five sisters. She has cited her grandmother, mother and sisters as an inspiration. Chiuri studied at Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, then started at Fendi where she designed handbag lines.

Chiuri joined Fendi in 1989. While at Fendi, she helped develop the famous Baguette bag and recruited the designer Pierpaolo Piccioli to join the department.

In 1999, Chiuri joined Italian fashion house Valentino, where she was responsible for the accessories lines. In 2008, when Valentino Garavani retired, Chiuri was promoted within the Italian company to become artistic co-director of the brand, alongside Pier Paolo Piccioli, whom she had known since her studies at the Istituto Europeo di Design. In 2003, the pair also began to manage creative direction for the Red Valentino diffusion collection. Chiuri and Piccioli were named co-creative directors of Valentino in 2008, overseeing full artistic direction for the brand, including Womenswear, Menswear & Haute Couture. Both designers were awarded the CFDA International Award for their work in 2015.

In 2016, Sidney Toledano appointed Chiuri as artistic director of the women's collections of Christian Dior (haute couture and ready-to-wear, six collections per year). Succeeding Raf Simons, she became the first woman to hold this position since the inception of the brand in 1946. Her first shows for the French house were characterized by minimalism and feminist themes.

On 6 July 2020, Chiuri presented the Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 2020–2021 collection. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was presented for the first time in the form of a film, in collaboration with Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone.

Chiuri's work is often described as youthful, and she cites her daughter Rachele Regini as a muse.

Beginnings at Dior
In July 2016 Chiuri was appointed the creative director of Dior. Vanessa Freidman of The New York Times reported: "She will be the first woman to lead the creative side in the label’s 69-year history, and the role will be her first solo appointment after more than two decades of working with Pierpaolo Piccioli, who has been named creative director at Valentino." The Irish Times remarked: "As artistic director of the storied Paris fashion house, Ms Chiuri will follow in the footsteps of designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Gianfranco Ferré and John Galliano."

In September 2016 Chiuri debuted her first collection for Christian Dior SE in Paris. The show featured many feminist references, including a T-shirt bearing the title of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's essay We Should All Be Feminists. Chiuri would continue this theme in subsequent shows, including a reference to Linda Nochlin's essay Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? for SS18, as well as a collaboration with artist Judy Chicago and The Chanakya School of Craft for the set of her SS20 Haute Couture collection at Dior.

Feminist designs
According to Chiuri, "the new generation has raised big questions about gender, race, environment and cultures that we have to reflect in fashion". Chiuri has often been inspired by feminism for the clothes she has created for Dior. In addition, she regularly invites committed artists to present her collections.

In September 2016, the slogan "We should all be feminist", a cult phrase by Nigerian author and feminist icon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that had inspired Chiuri, was printed on white t-shirts of two models at the Dior show at Paris Fashion Week for the Spring 2017 collection. In January 2020, during a very stylized Dior fashion show, staged in the garden of the Rodin Museum, the catwalk was lined with 21 banners, on which were embroidered feminist phrases, such as "Could men and women be equal?". In March, quotes such as "The patriarchy kills love" or "We are all clitoridian women" from Carla Lonzi's manifesto were displayed during the presentation of the 1970s-inspired collection.

Publications
In 2021, Chiuri published the book Her Dior: Maria Grazia Chiuri's New Voice. It features the work of 33 photographers who have worked with Chiuri and Dior. The book illustrates the work of these artists who represent an important part of contemporary photography and celebrates the innovative and feminist spirit of Chiuri.

Chiuri is, along with Pierpaolo Piccioli, author of the book Valentino: Objects of Couture, published on 5 November 2013. This book presents the legacy of accessory design by the legendary Valentino fashion house.

Awards and distinctions

 * 2024: Chiuri receives the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion.
 * Monday, 1 July 2019: Chiuri is decorated with the insignia of Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor from the hands of Marlene Schiappa, Secretary of State for Equality between Men and Women. The award was received after the Dior Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 2019–2020 fashion show. The award was given to honor the values and feminist message that Maria Grazia Chiuri conveys through her collections for the house of Dior and her collaborations with female artists.
 * 2017: Chiuri receives the Swarovski Award for Positive Change at the Fashion Awards.


 * 2017: Chiuri receives the "Glamour Award for Designer of the Year", as well as the "Glamour Award for The Fashion Force", presented by Glamour magazine.


 * 2015: Chiuri receives the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) award for her creations at Valentino.

Personal life
Chiuri married Paolo Regini, a shirtmaker, and has a son, Niccolò, and a daughter, Rachele.