How the Dior runway turned into the woke catwalk

The Dior catwalk transformed into the ultimate path to female solidarity as models stormed the runway, illuminated against the backdrop of a series of feminist slogans. 

Models kicked off the Christian Dior for Paris Fashion Week surrounded by neon signs with the messagers ‘Patriarchy kills love’ ‘consent’, ‘Women’s love is unpaid labour’ and ‘We are all clitoridian women’, referencing feminist Carla Lonzi, co-founder of the Feminine Revolt.

The show, which took place today at the Louvre’s Tuileries Garden, sent a clear message just a day after Harvey Weinstein’s conviction.

The film producer, 67, was convicted of rape and sexual assault on Monday, but acquitted of the most serious predatory charges, a verdict hailed as a historic victory by the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. 

In honour of feminist Carla Lonzi, co-founder of the Feminine Revolt, one of the largest phrases illuminated in pink was tellingly ‘we are all clitoridian women’.

The Italian activist began writing about her experiences in her ‘diary of a feminist’ from 1972 to 1977, in which she wrote about female sexuality.

Carla wrote The Clitoridian Woman and the Vaginal Woman, and Other Writings in 1974, in it she explored the vaginal orgasm and claimed it was a myth that served patriarchy and the complementarity between women to men.  

Her theory stood in stark contrast to Freud, who once claimed that a woman’s clitoral (or clitoridian) orgasm was infantile and immature, and that a woman could reach adult sexuality, by finally obtaining a vaginal orgasm – and was otherwise ‘frigid’

And the Dior show seemed to celebrate the verdict today, as the house’s first ever female designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri, it was ‘an important word for now’. 

It signaled that Chiuri would continue to explore her touchstone of feminism for her fall-winter 2020 designs. 

The set, the fruit of a collaboration with artist Claire Fontaine, made a strong impact on VIP guests – including actress Sigourney Weaver and singer Carla Bruni. 

Some paused for thought, especially as the show was delayed, in discussions of the #MeToo era and its influence on art – one day after Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault and led off to prison in handcuffs.

The designs themselves cleverly riffed off the empowerment idea at the start: Such as the Dior signature bar jacket, re-imagined as ribbed and angular, and twinned with a men’s shirt and business tie on a female model with a short pixie hairstyle. It was the show’s strongest fashion statement.

The feminist and androgynous musing sadly faded quickly in the 84-look show, suggesting that for Chiuri it was more of a marketing gimmick than a developed creative idea.

The rest of the show featured diverse silhouettes that delved in and out of the rich Dior archives – checks, polka dots, knitwear in jackets, shirts and pants – with varying degrees of success. A 1970s boho vibe was captured with a leitmotif of the printed silk headscarves.