Lady Dior Reinvented with Dior Lady Art #2 Series

According to celebrated English playwright Shakespeare in Hamlet, “Clothes make the man”. 

Now, if Shakespeare was a lady, the most appropriate of all objects to replace the clothes in this metaphor would be none other than bags. Yes, bags maketh the lady and this is certainly the case for Lady Dior!

Since its debut 22 years ago, Lady Dior has been a revered yet iconoclastic accessory. The signature Cannage stitching, padded leather cushions, mirrored facets and charms made with fine silver or gold are unmistakably by and from Maison Dior. 

So iconic, every woman would dream of owning it as it is the beacon of modern sophistication and timeless elegance. Its rise to global fame came when style icon, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was caught carrying it by the lenses of paparazzi in Paris. 

Of course, when it is seen on the Princess, the fashion sphere would start clamouring, starting with celebrities, fashion editors and down to the masses.

Last year, Dior invited a handful of British and American artistes to re-imagine the icon according to their unique interpretation. What’s more, the pieces envisioned by the guest artistes were produced in limited edition run. 

The project was a huge success and reprise again this year with greater diversity – ten celebrated artistes from different parts of the world, different ages and background.

The artistes, namely Lee Bul from Korea, American artistes John Giorno, David Wiseman, Spencer Sweeney and Jack Pierson, China’s Hong Hao, German-born Friedrich Kunath, Swiss-Guinean Namsa Leuba, France’s Betty Mariani, and American-born Kenyan artiste Jamilla Okubo, were given the carte blanche to transfer their creative minds onto Dior’s leatherworking language. 

Pushing the limits of the maison’s artisanal savoir-faire and thanks to the in-house creative atelier, the artistes enjoyed were purveyed with the freedom to translate their artistic visions onto the bags. 

They were given the liberty of choosing and specifying the fabric, charms, sizes, colours, jewellery, handles and stitching. And the result is a magnificent collection of unique, exclusive run Lady Dior handbags that one cannot resist.

Created in industrial style, the Seoul-based Lee Bul outfitted her bag with dozens of tiny Plexiglas mirrors that are slanted in every direction, making the bag appears to be one big shattered mirror. 

The bag, which took over 60 trials just to get it right, is also outfitted with white silver handles and Dior charms.

In John Giorno’s interpretation, he juxtaposes his poetry on both sides of the bag with loud graphics colours and matching handles to convey the feeling that one gains from looking at it – it is overwhelmed with beauty, thoughtfulness and philosophical exceptionality.

Inspired by the beauty of the natural world, Los Angeles-based David Wiseman combines his unique working aesthetics with Dior’s articulate craftsmanship. 

Tinged in Dior grey, his medium-sized Lady Dior bag is adorned with Lily of the Valley – Monsieur Dior’s favourite flower – charm made from porcelain and brass while perforated leather is used for the larger version, creating see-through effect that reflects his love for nature and his desire for detailed inventiveness and creative perfection. 

On the other hand, Spencer Sweeney, a man of multiple talents – visual artiste, musician, disc jockey, and a club owner – created two small bags, one medium bag and one large bag, all entirely covered with unique designs, faces, handprints and a gigantic leering eye. The graffiti-like imagery are hand-embroidered on the bags and each has the artiste’s signature hidden throughout.  

Using a multitude of technical approaches, French artiste Betty Mariani marries the irreverence of street art with upscale elegance on a medium-sized Lady Dior. 

She combined the art of bonding, painting and drawing to create an austere female face and splattered it with colours, making it appears as it has been “tagged”. She also played with the embroidery on top of the print so it looks multi-layered and finished with elegant black handles and black sides. 

Namsa Leuba, a Swiss-Guinean artiste, on the other hand, uses photography to question the way African identities are viewed in the west. Inspired by Ndebele culture of Zimbabwe, Leuba re-imagined the Lady Dior bags with messy colours that evoked the colour palette of Willem de Kooning and and fractured designs of Clyfford. The medium bag features complex stitching technique in which mink, fine fabrics and tiny pearls were sewn together like puzzle pieces, resulting a “hippie” look. While it took about 300 hours to create the medium sized bags, the small bag was woven in the same way that many old African textiles were created.

Drawing inspiration from song lyrics to show titles as well as German romanticism and conceptual art, the German-born, Los Angeles-based Friedrich Kunath uses one of his best-known work as the basis of his Lady Dior interpretation. 

On a medium sized bag, he created a photographic effect with the image of a couple kissing and adorned it with rainbow handles, a bespoke cloud-shaped charm, and a stitched the phrase “Fuck It, I Love You” throughout the interior of the bag as well as behind the charm, too.  

As for Beijing-based artist Hong Hao, the Chinese artiste who is known for scanned objects of daily use that he has organized according to their forms and colour, has created two inimitable designs – a medium sized bag with a re-imagined map of the world with colour swapping between the sea and the land. The layered stitching application allows one to physically feel the altitudes of the various countries on the bag. 

Moreover, Hao also re-imagined his famous scanned objects to conjure a charming tacky pop art effect that maintains a stylish Dior sophistication thanks to the material quality. Both bags are outfitted with exceptional silvers and Dior monogrammed charms in silver.

The exclusive run Dior Lady Art #2 collection will be making its way to Dior stores around the world soon so do watch this space for more info.

*Photos courtesy of Dior

Dior - G20,21,22,25, 26,27 &28, Indulge Floor, Starhill Gallery, 181 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur; Lot G23b & Lc-G01, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur