The discovery of the Lascaux cave, in 1940, had a profound influence on the artists of the time. For Georges Bataille, it represented the dawn of humans. The power with which animals are depicted (deer, horses, oxen) takes us back to the infancy of mankind and its relationship to nature, as well as the invention of art.
In 1951, Christian Dior appropriated these rock paintings, making a print from them for his Ovale line, a form with allusions to primitive female depictions such as the Willendorf Venus.
It is this wild and ancient femininity, linked to the magic of the earth, that guided Maria Grazia Chiuri, Artistic Director of the Dior women’s collections, throughout the creation of her first cruise collection for the House. Thus, a feminine representation takes shape, bringing into the present this shamanic intuition, this wild, almost bestial spirit of which Clarissa Pinkola Estés writes in one of the designer’s favorite books: Women Who Run with the Wolves.
Maria Grazia Chiuri is constantly seeking new ways to embrace and explore the Dior heritage. And it is the prehistoric wolves which emerge from the Lascaux cave to take their place on extraordinary silk jacquards where the ocher, almost gold in color, contrasts with blacks. Female handprints, reinterpretations of the original forms, become magnificent sequined embroideries in earthy shades.
