Dior Gateway to India – A Tribute to Indian Crafts

Dior hosted a landmark runway show in Mumbai on Thursday, a move nodding both to India’s long-standing role in manufacturing European high fashion and the growing power of its luxury consumers.

With the historic Gateway of India monument acting as a backdrop, the French label presented its Pre-Fall 2023 collection to a star-studded crowd including Bollywood icons Rekha, Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, as well as model Cara Delevingne and actor Maisie Williams.

The location was a clear inspiration: The runway itself was adorned with marigold and diya lamps, and the clothes featured Madras check and Benarasi brocade fabrics, mirror work, tie dye detailing, Nehru collars and kurta tailoring.

On Wednesday, the atelier held a retrospective in Mumbai featuring 50 hand-embroidered pieces it has produced for the label since Chiuri took the helm in 2016.

Dior has also turned to Chanakaya School of Craft, a non-profit institute run by Chankaya International and staffed by communities of female textile workers, for various runway backdrops. Among them were a collection of 22 mammoth tapestries, created in collaboration with Indian artists Madhvi and Manu Parekh, that Dior commissioned for its Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2022 show.

Indian artisans’ links to French high fashion date back to the 17th century, when tailors from Europe’s royal courts would source textiles from the subcontinent. Today, a significant portion of the luxury industry’s supply chain has been outsourced to India, said Rahul Mishra, who in 2020 became the first Indian designer to be invited to show a runway collection during Haute Couture season in Paris.

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