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Ever since Maria Grazia Chiuri took over at Dior, the label has been known for not shying away from political statements. Chiuri made her debut at the storied French house showing graphic T-shirts bearing the message "We Should All Be Feminists," which quickly reached icon status; she followed those up with updated versions emblazoned with Linda Nochlin's groundbreaking essay titled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" If there's one thing we can ascertain about her version of Dior it's that it's intricately tied with female artists — and therefore intricately tied with a certain kind of power.
For the spring 2018 couture collection, Chiuri looked to surrealists, specifically artist Leonor Fini, who often wore Christian Dior. Fini is quoted as saying "Only the inevitable theatricality of my life interests me," which is perhaps why this season's statements were not to be found on a T-shirt, or even a jacket, but on the skin itself.
These statements, however, are not slogans, nor are they political one-liners. The statements — which include the André Breton quotes "l'imaginaire c'est ce qui tend à devenir réel" and "l'amour est toujours devant vous aimez — feel closer to poetry than something that would be held up as a sign at the recent women's march. And when we look at it that way, we can't think of anything more luxurious than wearing such beautiful words around your neck like a string of pearls.
Grab one of those little plastic letter stencils and start practicing with your eyeliner, because this is one couture trend we're down to bring into our real lives. As for the reverse bronze eye mask? We might pass on that one.
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