Each artist was given carte blanche to adjust everything from the bag’s fabric to its charms, size, colour, jewellery, handles and stitching – resulting in a completely diverse collection.
Following the success of the inaugural Dior Lady Art creations last year, Dior has doubled down on the idea, inviting 10 distinguished international artists of various backgrounds to reimagine the house’s iconic Lady Dior bag this year.
First introduced in 1995 and popularised by Princess Diana the next year, the Lady Dior has since been a standout accessory that nods to Dior’s 70 years of history, while staying on top of ever-evolving trends.
The Dior Lady Art project is one manifestation of the accessory’s timeless appeal and recognisable design – compounded by the artists’ creative visions imbued into the bag’s framework.
Each artist was given carte blanche to adjust everything from the bag’s fabric to its charms, size, colour, jewellery, handles and stitching – resulting in a completely diverse collection.
Check out the individual pieces and artist’s inspiration behind each design below.
Artist: Seoul sculpture and installation artist Lee Bul. Inspiration: How visionary narratives and notions of progress affect the way our world is structured both at present and in the future. Design: Medium-sized bag fitted with tiny plexiglass mirrors, white-silver handles and silver charms.
Artist: American poet and performance artist John Giorno. Inspiration: Lines from his poetry “You got to burn to shine” in white lettering on one side and translucent on the other reflects the idea of a woman sometimes feeling strong and other times feeling shy. Design: Medium-sized rainbow coloured bag, handles and strap with poetry lettering.
Artist: Chinese multimedia artist Hong Hao. Inspiration: Reimagining the traditional rules of technique, production and everyday routine. Design: Medium-sized bag featuring map of the world with swapped colours of sea and land and changed names of oceans and mountains; layered stitching to reflect altitudes of varying countries on the bag.
Artist: Chinese multimedia artist Hong Hao. Inspiration: Transforming daily materials into a unified aesthetic. Design: Small-sized bag fitted with his famous scanned objects and silver Dior monogram charms.
Artist: German-born Los Angeles-based visual artist Friedrich Kunath. Inspiration: His best-known work – a rainbow made of thick impasto oil paint stretch over an eery watercolour landscape; the charming insolence and cheekiness of the American 1970s. Design: Medium-sized bag featuring a photographic effect of a couple kissing, handles that look like rainbows, and the phrase “F*** it, I love you” stitched throughout the interior of the bag and on the back of a bespoke Dior cloud charm.
Artist: Swiss-Guinean art director and photographer Namsa Leuba. Inspiration: Ndebele culture (people of Zimbabwe and Northeastern South Africa). Design: Medium-sized bag with a complex stitching technique in which mink, fine fabrics and tiny pearls are sewn together like puzzle pieces.
Artist: Swiss-Guinean art director and photographer Namsa Leuba. Inspiration: Old African textiles; the colour palette of Willem de Kooning; the fractured designs of Clyfford Still Design: Small-sized bag weaved with colourful fabrics, striking blue handles and strap.
Artist: French street artist Betty Mariani. Inspiration: To deconstruct the universe of the quotidian in order to find the magical in the otherwise banal. Design: Medium-sized bag made with colour-splatter technique pressed against an austere female face, featuring multi-layered embroidery on top of the print, as well as black handles and black sides.
Artist: Kenyan-American illustrator and painter Jamilla Okubo. Inspiration: Cultural identity, black culture and redefining the typical narratives surrounding the African diaspora. Design: Medium-sized bag with classic Dior quilting and a background with intricately stitched flowers.
Artist: Kenyan-American illustrator and painter Jamilla Okubo. Inspiration: Cultural identity, black culture and redefining the typical narratives surrounding the African diaspora. Design: Small-sized bag mixing Kenyan-style beadwork with Parisian-inspired crystals.
Artist: Kenyan-American illustrator and painter Jamilla Okubo. Inspiration: Cultural identity, black culture and redefining the typical narratives surrounding the African diaspora. Design: Small-sized bag mixing Kenyan-style beadwork with Parisian-inspired crystals.
Artist: American photographer and artist Jack Pierson. Inspiration: The tragedy inherent in the pursuit of glamour; his drawings while staying in Paris. Design: Medium-sized bag with electric orange handles, swirling masses of silvers and greys and bespoke charms that conjure art deco amusement.
Artist: American photographer and artist Jack Pierson. Inspiration: The tragedy inherent in the pursuit of glamour; his drawings while staying in Paris. Design: Small-sized bag made with silver and gold threads, black handles and black strap.
Artist: American multimedia artist, DJ and club owner Spencer Sweeney. Inspiration: Continual movement, contradiction and aesthetic revolution. Design: Large-sized bag featuring a gigantic leering eye created with 3D brush strokes, matching handles and the artist’s signature hidden throughout.
Artist: American multimedia artist, DJ and club owner Spencer Sweeney. Inspiration: Continual movement, contradiction and aesthetic revolution. Design: Medium-sized bag featuring colourful and unique graffiti-like faces, black handles and black strap.
Artist: American multimedia artist, DJ and club owner Spencer Sweeney. Inspiration: Continual movement, contradiction and aesthetic revolution. Design: Small-sized bag featuring colourful and unique hand designs on a white canvas, with white handles, white strap and gold Dior monogram charms.
Artist: American multimedia artist, DJ and club owner Spencer Sweeney. Inspiration: Continual movement, contradiction and aesthetic revolution. Design: Small-sized bag featuring colourful and unique face designs on a white canvas, with white handles, white strap and silver Dior monogram charms.
Artist: American artist and designer David Wiseman. Inspiration: The beauty of the natural world – flowers, leaves and glaciers. Design: Medium-sized bag in classic Dior grey featuring the house’s signature quilting technique and floral, nature motifs, paired with an exclusive lily-of-the-valley charm made from porcelain and brass.
Artist: American artist and designer David Wiseman. Inspiration: The beauty of the natural world – flowers, leaves and glaciers. Design: Large-sized bag made from perforated gold leather with nature motives, with gold handles, straps and an accompanying insert.
(swipe left for more)
The collection will soon be available in an exclusive run. For more information, log on to Dior’s official website here and stay tuned to their Instagram for updates.
Images: Courtesy of Christian Dior