Maria Grazia Chiuri - Designer, Creative Director of Christian Dior

[jeanclaude]

This is one of the stupidest takes in this thread, are you unaware of the concept of 'cost of living' or 'purchasing power parity'?

Anyone doing a given job in India would get paid less in absolute terms than their French counterpart whether that's an embroiderer or a doctor, the difference is that the money they do get paid goes the same distance in their country as a French worker's would in France so they have comparable living standards. This claim that it's pure concern for artisans that drives this sudden wave of negativity towards embroidery done in India (since the usual acceptable excuses i.e. inferior quality and sweatshops - don't apply in this specific case), isn't actually fooling anyone.

And some types of embroidery that Indian workers specialise in, didn't exist in France to begin with. Good luck finding a French atelier to embroider leather bags or shoes lol.

Are you aware of the concept "workers exploitation in countries with no proper work regulation"? If you don´t want to look at the reality of it all, it´s your choice; but don´t call me stupid because I don´t want to turn my head in another direction.

WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Many fashion firms guarantee their clients that their apparel is created by employees who are compensated at least the minimum legal wage. However, most brands do not even pay the legal minimum wage. Worker exploitation is a frequent practice in the textile business.Furthermore, in most industrial nations such as Bangladesh, China and India, the minimum wage is half to a fifth of the living wage. A livable wage is the minimal minimum that a family needs to meet its fundamental necessities. So, in short, these companies brag about paying their staff 5 times less than what they truly need to live a dignified life.

 

[jeanclaude]

Beyond the utopia, what’s the solution then?

That´s the big problem...what to do? Unfortunately it has not an easy solution. And as you say, that would take destroying the whole economical system to remake it again...sadly it is just pure utopia.

I just cannot help being annoyed by it.

 

[Lola701]

That´s the big problem...what to do? Unfortunately it has not an easy solution. And as you say, that would take destroying the whole economical system to remake it again...sadly it is just pure utopia.

I just cannot help being annoyed by it.

The biggest problem regarding fashion and it industry is that despite having created some of the richest stuff fortunes of the planet, it’s not an industry taken seriously by governments…And even more in developing countries.

So those artisans are totally dependent of private initiatives that are usually foreign companies. There’s a sort of value that has been attached to all the creative fields in fashion that is not existing in a lot of countries.

My grandmother was a seamstress at a Couture House. She had a lot of pride for what she did. People respected her position when they knew in which house she was working at. But all along she was totally middle class and was totally proud of the fact that the value of a single pieces she made from her hands was worth 6 times her monthly salary.
When you go to India or even Senegal, people don’t necessarily perceived the artisans in the same way. It’s so banal in a way that they don’t realize the value.

The economical system is what it is unfortunately but I think the initiative of Dior can be positive. It has a sad and twisted bad side in it as everything with capitalism but it also has a lot of good.

 

[Mutterlein]

Are you aware of the concept "workers exploitation in countries with no proper work regulation"? If you don´t want to look at the reality of it all, it´s your choice; but don´t call me stupid because I don´t want to turn my head in another direction.

WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Many fashion firms guarantee their clients that their apparel is created by employees who are compensated at least the minimum legal wage. However, most brands do not even pay the legal minimum wage. Worker exploitation is a frequent practice in the textile business.Furthermore, in most industrial nations such as Bangladesh, China and India, the minimum wage is half to a fifth of the living wage. A livable wage is the minimal minimum that a family needs to meet its fundamental necessities. So, in short, these companies brag about paying their staff 5 times less than what they truly need to live a dignified life.

Thank you much for bringing this to our attention because none of us had any idea before.

As I keep saying over and over again, this has nothing to do with what is going on with Dior and their embroiderers and ateliers in India.

I challenge you not to think of India as one big mass that is all the same but actually a various mix of different operations and entities that are all working in different levels.

 

[Mutterlein]

Here is the Mumbai-based atelier that Dior works with and that is being celebrated with the show:

Chanakya International - Hand Embroidery Exports, Mumbai

 

[jeanclaude]

Thank you much for bringing this to our attention because none of us had any idea before. .

That was only directed to druzilla, it was a direct reply to her. But if you want to be ironic...go on...!

PS. Chanakya web looks great and responsible...I just hope they actually are as responsible as they seem to show.

 

[Mutterlein]

That was only directed to druzilla, it was a direct reply to her. But if you want to be ironic...go on...!

PS. Chanakya web looks great and responsible...I just hope they actually are as responsible as they seem to show.

Sure.

 

[Frederic01]

Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri Has ‘Work to Do’ to Advance Female Artists
At the Brooklyn Museum’s annual Artists Ball, sponsored by Dior, the creative director of haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections talked about finding female talent and her art agenda for the summer.

APRIL 26, 2023, 9:49AM


According to Maria Grazia Chiuri, the effort to advance women artists will have to start in her own country.
The creative director of haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections at Dior said that she’s noticed concerted efforts to highlight female artists in the U.S. and France, but sees room for improvement in her native Italy.

“In Italy, we are suffering because there is not much space for many women artists. They are more concentrated on historical exhibitions,” she said, before highlighting several champions of female artists in the U.S., including the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

Chiuri served as co-chair at the latter’s annual Artists Ball, presented by Dior, alongside Regina Aldisert, Henry Elsesser, Marley B. Lewis, Janet Mock and Carla Shen. This year, the event honored artist-activist Carrie Mae Weems, whose multidisciplinary career spans photographs, text, fabric and installations.

Other attendees included Tracee Ellis Ross, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Swizz Beats, Christian Serratos, Kiersey Clemons, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, Thomas Doherty and Eli Brown, among others.

“I am very interested in this museum because it’s the first museum in New York that started to speak about women artists, so for me, it’s very important to be here,” Chiuri said of the Brooklyn Museum, acknowledging the irony of holding a dinner party next to Judy Chicago’s landmark feminist installation in the museum, “Dinner Party.”

“My dream,” she joked.

“The table for me is a reference in the history of feminist art — it was very inspiring in my work in Dior because we get to work with women artists to support all the artists around the world,” Chiuri continued.
During her latest trip to New York, Chiuri stopped by the International Center of Photography’s “Face to Face: Portraits of Artists” exhibit, which featured Dior collaborator Brigitte Lacombe. “I had never seen the International Center of Photography, which is unbelievable,” Chiuri said.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit “Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid” was also on her list. Chiuri won’t be at Monday’s Met Gala, however. “I can’t go to the Met this year because we have to realize our [next] show,” she added.

The designer’s art agenda for the summer is broad. “I want to go visit a new artist in galleries in Paris. We’re really obsessed with the exhibition made with [Francesco] Vezzoli. He put archeological statues from Rome and Greece in conversation with his work, and that’s super interesting. I saw that before coming to New York.”
She relies on her team to help her scout new artists, either for inspiration or collaboration.

“I didn’t have a specific [art] background, but I have a cultural team that supports me and I go to see exhibitions all around the world. And when I see something that resonates, there’s no other reason. It is usually something close to me. Art is specific — when you see something, you love it or not.”

WWD

 

[FashionFanatico]

Dior employees are not happy at all

San Francisco-based jobs platform Lensa gave the world's 100 highest-earning companies an employee satisfaction rating by correlating multiple data from job rating platform Glassdoor, including salaries, overall job satisfaction, and the response to the question of whether one would recommend one's job to friends would.

One European company made the list no one likes to be on: Dior. The French group, which includes perfume and leather goods divisions, made a profit of 21 billion euros on sales of 79 billion euros last year. According to the Ensa evaluation, the employees earn an average of 62,791 dollars a year. Despite this, Dior only managed to score 1.26 out of ten possible points for employee satisfaction.

sueddeutsche.de

 

[LadyJunon]

Dior employees are not happy at all

San Francisco-based jobs platform Lensa gave the world's 100 highest-earning companies an employee satisfaction rating by correlating multiple data from job rating platform Glassdoor, including salaries, overall job satisfaction, and the response to the question of whether one would recommend one's job to friends would.

One European company made the list no one likes to be on: Dior. The French group, which includes perfume and leather goods divisions, made a profit of 21 billion euros on sales of 79 billion euros last year. According to the Ensa evaluation, the employees earn an average of 62,791 dollars a year. Despite this, Dior only managed to score 1.26 out of ten possible points for employee satisfaction.

sueddeutsche.de

That doesn't sound good at all. Is this solely concerning the design teams and studios or the company as a whole?

 

[Mutterlein]

That doesn't sound good at all. Is this solely concerning the design teams and studios or the company as a whole?

This is referring to the company as whole.

 

[Lola701]

Im surprised only Dior is in the list…
It’s not like working for any of the top companies at LVMH or elsewhere is pure pleasure and fun outside of the studio and main operations…

 

[LadyJunon]

 

[Lola701]

We already know what it’s going to look like. A line dresses, tartan, belts at the waist, boots, logos. It’s so formulatic that it’s almost fun.

 

[jeanclaude]

We already know what it’s going to look like. A line dresses, tartan, belts at the waist, boots, logos. It’s so formulatic that it’s almost fun.

You forgot a bagpipe made of Dior canvas!!

 

[Cocteau Stone]

^ Or better yet, a saddle bag that looks like a bag pipe!!! But perhaps that's a little too ambitious and crazy 😂

 

[jeanclaude]

^ Or better yet, a saddle bag that looks like a bag pipe!!! But perhaps that's a little too ambitious and crazy 😂

That´s too much creative work for her brain to process!!

 

[yslforever]

All of that but also include Mary Stuart references, to fit the MGC commercial-feminism manifesto.

 

[jeanclaude]

WE SHOULD ALL BE GROUNDSKEEPER WILLIE

pinimg.com

 

[Frederic01]

They will never be able to surpass Chanel Paris-Édimbourg…