DIOR is a Parisian fashion house founded by Christian Dior in 1946. Dior is celebrated for revamping Haute Couture after War World II. He would be best known for debuting the iconic "New Look" silhouette in 1947 with a small, nipped-in waist and a full skirt falling below mid-calf length; emphasizing an hourglass shape. It was considered revolutionary in the fashion world as Dior brought glamorous sophistication back globally. After Dior's death, the fashion house would go through many creative directors:  Yves Saint Laurent (1958–1960), Marc Bohan (1961–1989), Gianfranco Ferré (1989–1996), John Galliano (1997–2011), Raf Simons (2012–2015), and Maria Grazia Chiuri (2016–present). 

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Dior's current creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri (also goes by Maria Grazia),is the first female creative director for the brand. She would bring a feminist voice and a women's perspective to the fashion house. She's known for printing graphic tee's saying, "We all should be feminist" from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's mantra and "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?", a reference to  historian Linda Nochlin. She would explore a new wave of inspiration from women empowerment, dance, and now Mexican culture. 

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I would like to discuss the discourse around Cultural Appreciation/Appropriation in relation to Dior. Dior debuted a Resort 2019 collection inspired by Escaramuzas, a rodeo event consisting of Mexican Equestrian Women. 

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DIOR's Attempt to pay tribute to ESCARAmuza WOMEN:

Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Appreciation? 

 

I will preface by saying Dior taking inspiration from Mexican culture has an embedded power imbalance as it's a dominant European brand borrowing the heritage of a minority group. I believe that within this collection it can border on either cultural appropriation and/or appreciation, it depends how one subjectively views it or how the Mexican community feels. Maria Grazia's intentions were sincere and can be seen as cultural exchange but the execution of it was poor. 

 

It doesn't negate the fact that Dior is a high end brand debuting this Escaramuza inspired collection to their majorly white, elite, high class demographic which is problematic within itself. High fashion is such an exclusive industry that sometimes it doesn't care about minorities or diversity as a whole. But Maria Grazia was a bit careful by stating that this collection was in fact inspired by Escaramuza and didn't claim it as her own. She wasn't defensive (like Marc Jacobs & Stefano Gabbana) or tried to make up some colorblind remarks. 

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So in all, I would like to engage in the parts of the Dior collection/show I enjoyed as a form of cultural exchange in how they presented it online vs. what I didn't enjoy which is their white-washing campaign. It's a step towards appreciating and representing a minority's culture, but it's not perfect. 

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Maria Grazia debuted 83 looks for Dior's Resort 2019 collection at the 18th century stables of Domaine de Chantilly in France. Maria Grazia took inspiration from Escaramuza equestrians, European equestrians, Chantilly, and embroidery of South America and Southern Italy. But the Escaramuza's style would be the highlight.

 

For some context, "Escaramuza, an event within the larger rodeo-like sport known as charrería (now recognized as Mexico’s national sport) is comprised of teams of up to 16 women (though only eight can compete at a time) performing a series of routines inside a lienzo charro, or stadium, at breakneck galloping speeds—all while riding sidesaddle."  It's a cultural practice that beautifully showcases the coordination, athleticism, choreography of Escaramuza women participating in this sport.

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Maria Grazia in her own words states, "The reason I like the escaramuzas is because they do something that is so macho — rodeo — in our vision, but they decided to do that in their traditional dresses which are so pretty, so feminine." Her reasoning itself shows respect to explicitly cite "Escaramuzas" as her muse for this collection. She didn't ignore the culture and completely brand it as Dior's own original idea. It was an obvious connection through her explanation and what was presented in the images shared online by Vogue. I also appreciate her commitment to creating clothes around strong women and women empowerment. It just so happens the dresses that the Escaramuza equestrians wear are a homage to the Adelita dresses worn by women warriors of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, further centering it on Dior's narrative of women power under Maria Grazia. 

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There were different interpretations of the Adelita dress but still maintained the Escaramuza style she explains, "“All the collection has the Escaramuza shape with a small waist and the belts – and it is like a corset in a way,” said the designer. A lot of the silhouettes were consistent of nipped waist, voluminous skirts, and rodeo hats but obviously with a modern take. The dresses are far from traditional which I think is a good thing because I believe the traditional dresses should be reserved and sacred to the Escaramuza women. Maria Grazia definitely presented a more relaxed and glamorized version which fits well within the brand's identity. Some of the dresses incorporated French heritage of French lace and toile de Jouy, specialities of Chantilly, echoing the location where the show was. There were also traditional European equestrian looks of fitted blazers, trousers, and helmets. Some of the tops and bottoms were interchangeable, you saw blazers with skirts. Maria Grazia also included embroidery which is common in the Adelita dresses but it also referenced her own background of being from Southern Italy and where embroidery is a tradition. Overall it was fusion of Mexican and European influences. 

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The best part of this show was Dior flying out the Escaramuza Rayenari team based in Phoneix, Arizona to perform for the fashion show. Above is a video that was posted onto Youtube and clips of it on Instagram to show that Dior was paying homage. I do believe that this is a significant gesture; it helps reinforce cultural appreciation. Referring back to the definition of cultural appropriation from the book, Practices of Looking (2003), it defines cultural appropriation as, "To appropriate is, in essence, to steal. Cultural appropriation is the process of 'borrowing' and changing the meaning of cultural products, slogans, images, or elements of fashion" (59). Dior didn't change the meaning of the Escaramuza. Yes, she did alter the Adelita style of dresses to fit her fashion agenda which can be questionable to some. But at least she didn't hide her intentions. Maria Grazia provided an opportunity to bring greater representation for these powerful equestrian women. America Martinez, the captain of the Raynari, recounts her reaction to the invitation, "Coming here is like a dream. When they reached out to us, it felt really weird, because I never imagined an opportunity like this. It was hard to believe at first,” she said. Dior designed custom looks for the team that were beautiful and true to the culture. The equestrians wore pristine white Adelita dresses embroidered with floral patterns, paired with a black Christian Dior belts, topped with a white sombrero and black accents. 

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But yet again no one is above critique. Now this is what I didn't enjoy and thought was offensive, Dior presented the collection on majorly white models and a few models of color (in the collage). This is a repeated offense everywhere in fashion. To improve this, they should've had majority of Mexican models, model their own culture with a few other non-Mexican models in order to still meet "brand standards". The promotion campaign was modeld on Jennifer Lawerence, a white actress and face of Dior. To say the least it kind of delegitimizes Maria Grazia's beautiful collection. It was awfully executed and it publicly white washed Escaramuza culture. In my personal opinion, Dior's process and concept was there until it was ruined by not being inclusive through the visuals and runway that were put online by Dior and Vogue. The debate of cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation will always be up for discussion as everyone perceives authenticity differently. I think both arguments are valid and can co-exist.

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Overall, I do think that this is a learning lesson. Maria Grazia's purpose was successful. I really do enjoy where she was going with this collection in terms of inspiration and giving credit to Escaramuzas. But the representation was completely off.

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Dior missed out on a  good opportunity to have an all Mexican inclusion.

I hope representation will be more accurate in the future for collections representing a minority's culture.