epic textile installation by joana vasconcelos sets the backdrop of dior's AW23 show

Valkyrie Miss Dior by Joana Vasconcelos

Artist Joana Vasconcelos sets the backdrop of Dior’s AW23 show in Paris with her kaleidoscopic fabric-filled installation ‘Valkyrie Miss Dior’. The epic, site-specific textile installation Vasconcelos infuses floral textiles inspired by the House’s archives.

The ensemble pays tribute to Catherine, the original ‘Miss Dior’ and a celebrated plantswoman, as well as to the founding couturier’s enduring love of nature. Vasconcelos says that fashion is an important part of her life. She recalls previewing her work at Lisbon’s Manobras in May 1994 and regards her set design for Dior as a culmination of her dreams coming true.

images courtesy of Dior | photos © Adrien Dirand for Dior

Vasconcelos envisioned the monumental installation as sewn-up fabrics that would tower over the viewers and models of Dior’s AW23 show. She thought of it as an inanimate, amiable creature that would interact with the public. Her vision resulted in Valkyrie Miss Dior’s monumental sculpture.

The artistic installation doubles as a relational exploration between monumental sculpture, human bodies, and inhabited clothing. Vasconcelos, who also designed the Wedding Cake for Waddesdon Manor, sees her set design almost as a sculptural dance between visual arts and fashion.

Kaleidoscopic installation for Dior’s set design

Joana Vasconcelos’ entrance into Dior’s backdrop is the artist’s response to the fashion house’s celebration of the kaleidoscopic image of femininity outlined by icons, inhabited with awareness, and suggested by emotional paths for the next generations of women.

Her fabric-wrapped installation shines as models walk around them and glistens as the lights cross over its textile. Her giant, site-specific Valkyrie Miss Dior mimics the fashion house’s collection of nuanced tartan fabrics distinguish coats, jackets and straight skirts, which can also be worn beneath large coats.

For Dior’s AW23 show Maria Grazia Chiuri celebrates the French style spearheaded by revered women Catherine Dior, Édith Piaf, and Juliette Gréco. Chiuri sees the celebration for Catherine Dior through her choice to grow and sell flowers as a message of hope.

For Edith Piaf and Juliette Gréco, it was through their voices and their supreme stage presence, as the creative director puts it. The women in Dior’s homage were driven by the soul of Paris and existentialist thinking, marked by the wardrobe they produced during their time.