Drawing inspiration from Lynda Benglis, Jonathan Anderson shapes the house’s haute couture in a sculptural workshop, redefining the fusion of craftsmanship and Parisian avant-garde fashion.
The collection responds, in the language of couture, to the work of American sculptor Lynda Benglis.
Many of the artist’s works begin in two-dimensional materials that are transformed, through knotting, pleating or moulding, into three. The art of couture enacts a similar shift: fabric is given sculptural form, accentuated when worn. Jonathan Anderson takes this connection as a starting point for the collection, elaborating on the physical gestures of hand-plissé, knotting and draping.
Benglis’s longstanding relationship with Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, informs specific pieces. Her Peacock series, begun in the late 1970s and inspired by the birds she encountered whilst staying in Ahmedabad, are interpreted in brightly-coloured floral and beaded embellishments.
Anderson’s research into this body of work led him to focus on Indian craft itself: specifically, the 18th-century tradition of chintz. These finely-woven cottons, typically hand-painted or block-printed, had a profound and lasting impact on European decorative arts. Antique fragments of chintz and indiennes, sourced from a specialist dealer, adorn Petit Dîner and mini Lady Dior bags.
The Ahmedabad landscape prompts a new line of enquiry for Anderson’s lab-as-couture: interested in the idea of contrasting environments, he juxtaposes its relative abundance with the arid climate and crystalline air of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Benglis keeps a home and studio. The floral aspects of the collection, as well as its chromatic articulation, evoke these two landscapes.
Finale © Adrien Dirand
Courtesy of Dior
