Paris (AFP)

Rebellion against patriarchal stereotypes: the Italian designer of Dior Maria Grazia Chiuri on Tuesday translated into parade her diary of teenage girls, written in the midst of women's liberation in the 1970s.

Inspired by the years spent in her mother's couture workshop in Rome where she saw women assert themselves through clothing, the collection was presented in an installation imagined by the artistic collective Claire Fontaine. The ideas of the Italian feminist Carla Lonzi have been transposed into luminous inscriptions.

"Consent" flashed throughout the parade in the seventies spirit but with modern proportions in front of a crowd of celebrities including actresses Demi Moore, Andy McDowell, Sigourney Weaver, Nicaraguan lawyer Bianca Jagger, the tops Cara Delavingne and Karlie Kloss, singer and ex-First Lady of France Carla Bruni.

Other key moments of feminism were brought to the fore with slogans like "Partiarchy kills love" ("patriarchy kills love"), "Patriarchy = CO2", "When women strike, the world stops" (" when women go on strike, the world stops) or "We are All Clitoridian Women" ("we are all Clitoral").

The podium is made up of pages from the newspaper Le Monde glued to the ground, a reminder that the battles launched 50 years ago are still relevant.

- Bandanas and knee-highs -

"It's a very personal collection. We realize that all your references are formed during adolescence. What influenced me in the first place was the liberation of the woman who began to assert her specificity, her ability to be not only mother, wife, daughter, but a personality in several aspects, "said Maria Grazia Chiuri in an interview with AFP.

A photo where she poses next to her mother, both wearing a bandeau scarf, is a powerful inspiration from this fall-winter 2020-2021 ready-to-wear collection: the bandanas accompany the tailors close to the body, the long transparent cardigan-skirt sets, mini culottes with a white, rust black poncho, evening dresses ...

The knee-high stockings that Maria Grazia wears in this photo, on the catwalk, turn into black fishnet and exceed the laced boots or Mary Jane shoes.

"I did not want to be nostalgic, I reread my diary with my contemporary vision", underlines the designer adding that her references to this time are not translated in "looks", but in "attitude".

"It is research that each woman must do individually, but we must sensitize women so that they dress for them, by for others or another and distance themselves from the idea of ​​stereotypical female beauty" .

- Omnipresent "patriarchal culture" -

Flat shoes, like big rubber boots or open mules with the look of indoor slippers that are worn with long dressy dresses are there to support this idea, underlines the designer.

Among the pieces to mix as we see fit, Dior offers iconic arched bar jackets, available this season in knit or denim, screen-printed T-shirts with the slogans of the decor, sportswear pieces such as parkas with camouflage or fringed effect .

The "cool and timeless" patterns like dots or tiles, here in beige or green smoky effect, are omnipresent and mix.

The silhouette is "sharp" and "simplified" visually, but "complex" from a technical point of view.

After the haute couture parade a month ago, in the belly of a goddess imagined by the American feminist artist Judy Chicago with questions about the roles of men and women, this one takes up the reflection very dear to Maria Grazia chiuri. It highlights the author Carla Lonzi, little known in France, with a contemporary look at the patriarchal discourse that she denounced.

"This patriarchal culture is always very present in fashion," denounces the stylist.

"It is our role to use the popular side of fashion to arouse curiosity and questioning," she concludes.

© 2020 AFP