Dior Lady Art #7: which artists changed the legendary bag?

A committed feminist, Egyptian artist Ghada Amer questions the body and place of women in the world of art and contemporary society through her hybrid works, using painting and embroidery as well.

© Harry Eelman

The leather of the bag is embellished with patchwork embroidery, precious stones and sequins, or even hand-woven rugs, allowing the words “strong”, “loving”, “tenacious” or “determined” to be inscribed. , awakens the properties inherent in women.

© Harry Eelman

The multidisciplinary work of Chinese artist Wang Yuyang questions the contrast between tradition and technology, artificial reality and perceptions of history, earth and space. He experimented with many artistic techniques such as painting, sculpting, photography and video.

© Kai Li & Ken Ngan

Wang Yuyang awakens his fascination with reinterpreting the Lady Dior collection, with five pieces that reflect as many facets of the celestial bodies as possible. Each bag is decorated with a representation of her work, reimagined using traditional embroidery methods combined with new creative techniques. The craters are embodied with lots of precious stones and sequins, or with woven jerseys with 3D reliefs, while in one of the models, the moon motif is printed on a colorful canvas.

© Andrea Cenetiempo

Born in Canada and at heart New York, artist Sara Cwynar’s work questions media coverage of everyday life through the constant acceleration of images using multiple forms of expression – from photography to collage, from performance to book creation. He developed a series of visual anachronisms made from innovative creative techniques.

© Harry Eelman

In a desire to capture the feeling of passing through time, he imagined his two re-interpretations of Lady Dior as accomplice witnesses of their time. The lashing then became a valuable backdrop for exhibitions of symbolic images from the 19th to the 21st centuries collected on the internet via printmaking techniques or realistic embroidery on red backgrounds. The second version sees it packaged in a transparent pvc with a bright yellow base. The shoulder strap extending the bag itself is decorated with this unique “painting”. Last surprise? That was found in the bag: a poetic reproduction of a cloudy sky, a subtle invitation to flee.

© Harry Eelman

Alex Gardner is fascinated by the simplest details of everyday life. The American painter infuses his practice with a single, universal, and timeless dimension by representing the faceless individual, an anonymous figure everyone can identify with.

© Harry Eelman

For Dior, American painter Alex Gardner has transferred one of his iconic pieces to a Lady Dior bag, transforming it into a dazzling painting that plays with color and materials. The design represents the contact between the palm and the fabric with infinite flexibility that seems to blend into the holographic skin of the bag.

© Harry Eelman

Through drawings, sculptures, paintings or even videos, Françoise Pétrovitch’s work sheds light on the freedom of a shy teenager. Its definite and captivating lines trace the duality of being.

© marion berrin

Birds, a recurring motif in his works, are present in three of Lady Dior’s reinterpretations. The first version is drawn on matte white leather, plays with a hazy bird motif and finds itself frozen in flight, protruding slightly from the bag. This model is also available in black, but this time it welcomes sleeping birds. In the final version, the animal turns into a good luck charm in a small tie & dye version that elevates both the palette and the lightness of the painting. Inside is a cloth with a mirror reflection, a subtle invitation to self-exploration.

© Marion Berrin

Qatari artist Bouthayna Al Muftah uses painting, printmaking, conceptual installation and performance work to stage his country’s cultural heritage, preventing the loss of multi-faceted memories.

© Marion Berrin

For her reimagining of Lady Dior, Bouthayna Al Muftah used the art of typography to represent poetic landscapes associated with her country on delicate pieces of hand-embroidered silk muslin connected by hanging threads. A way to underscore the intimate and universal nature of art and fashion.

© Marion Berrin

This Korean artist’s work is an invitation to explore oneself and the world, constantly seeking serenity through material effects, transparency and color gradations. The repetitive and “minimal” aesthetic is illustrated by the superimposition of a collage which gives life to the abstract composition.

© Marion Berrin

Minjung Kim reinterprets Lady Dior through four dreamlike journeys. Printed directly onto the bag, her painting ‘The Street’ is interspersed with flowers on organza tulle, while an embroidered version incorporates couture and sportswear elements that adorn the bag. Finally, this icon of Dior’s house is carefully recreated thanks to a knowledge of excellence inspired by the ancestral art of hanji paper – featuring, in relief, mountains illuminated by a crimson hue in the color of dawn. .

© Marion Berrin

At the intersection of modern archeology and history, Zhenya Machneva’s captivating and colorful tapestries trace the rise, decline, and fall of the industrial age, but also underscore the melancholy of dreamy desert landscapes and abandoned places around the world.

© Marion Berrin

For Dior, he wanted to reflect on the position of women in society, through their strengths and the burden of their responsibilities. One of the models was unveiled on a spectacular removable pedestal made of large resin hands. All the iconic bags are embroidered, inside and out, made with innovative know-how echoing the designers.

© Marion Berrin

The bright palette of American artist Brian Calvin’s portraits powerfully and naively expresses the youthful energy of his California origin.

©Pat Martin

For Dior, Brian Calvin has translated his iconic design into two Lady Dior styles, mini and medium, in thread, pearl and sequins, carefully hand-embroidered on a raffia base, in a dazzling interplay of textures. The inside of the bag is decorated with pink cotton, as an allure of softness.

©Pat Martin

In his compositions, the artist uses a number of techniques such as oil paint, enamel, acrylic or even spray paint, giving his canvases a relief effect that reflects the spontaneity of his approach. Her passionate touch is guided by an overflowing imagination.

©Tiffany Nicholson

Shara Hughes reinterprets Lady Dior through two models who play a dazzling game of optics, materials and perceptuals. Dressed in red velvet or embroidered with a thousand colorful muslin flowers, each of the two bags is adorned with a handcrafted “window”, revealing an enchanting garden – an ode to nature that Christian Dior loved so much.

©Tiffany Nicholson