Maria Grazia Chiuri Exits Dior as Women’s Artistic Director

PARIS — Maria Grazia Chiuri is stepping down as artistic director of women’s collections at Dior, where she oversaw a golden age of growth thanks to a mix of commercially successful product and feminist-driven storytelling. 

Her departure after nine years at the helm opens the door for the brand’s next chapter under Jonathan Anderson, who was named as Dior’s menswear designer in April and is widely expected to take over the women’s division as well. 

“The house of Dior wishes to express today its deepest gratitude to Maria Grazia Chiuri after a wonderful collaboration as creative director of women’s collections since 2016,” the French fashion house said Thursday. It did not indicate when a successor would be named. 

“I extend my warmest thanks to Maria Grazia Chiuri, who, since her arrival at Dior, has accomplished tremendous work with an inspiring feminist perspective and exceptional creativity, all imbued with the spirit of Monsieur Dior, which allowed her to design highly desirable collections,” Delphine Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior Couture, said in a statement.

“She has written a key chapter in the history of Christian Dior, greatly contributing to its remarkable growth and being the first woman to lead the creation of women’s collections,” she added.

Chiuri said she was “delighted” to have been given the “extraordinary” opportunity to helm the house, founded in 1947. The brand is a jewel in the crown of luxury magnate Bernard Arnault, the founder of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, who has owned Dior since 1984. 

“I would like to thank Monsieur Arnault for placing his trust in me and Delphine for her support. I am particularly grateful for the work accomplished by my teams and the ateliers,” Chiuri said. 

“Their talent and expertise allowed me to realize my vision of committed women’s fashion, in close dialogue with several generations of female artists. Together, we have written an impactful chapter of which I am immensely proud,” she added.

Her next move is not yet known, though Chiuri has held talks with Fendi, according to industry sources.

Thursday’s announcement caps an unusually protracted handover period. Chiuri’s departure has been rumored for months, with every show since January being billed as potentially her last. 

She leaves on a high after winning a standing ovation for her final collection, a mix of cruise and haute couture looks shown on Tuesday evening against the spectacular backdrop of the Villa Albani Torlonia in her hometown of Rome. 

Backstage, some seamstresses were crestfallen when it started to rain just before the start of the show, threatening to ruin their delicate confections, but the evening ended on a high as models and team members loudly cheered the smiling designer.

In the audience, Delphine Arnault was the sole representative of the family that controls LVMH. Bernard Arnault, her father, had planned to attend but was forced to cancel his trip due to a last-minute meeting with government officials, an LVMH representative said. 

Though he did not disclose the nature of the meeting, the European Union is in the midst of trade negotiations with the United States in a bid to avert President Donald Trump’s threat of imposing a 50 percent tariff on goods from the bloc. 

Arnault, whose luxury conglomerate logged revenues of 85 billion euros in 2024, last week urged the EU to make concessions, warning the duties could heavily impact the sale of cognac houses like Hennessy. 

A feminist collective

Nonetheless, many of Chiuri’s regular collaborators were on hand, including artist Eva Jospin and photographers Brigitte Niedermair, Brigitte Lacombe and Maripol, who took Polaroids of guests including brand ambassador Natalie Portman. 

Also present were Silvia Venturini Fendi and Giancarlo Giammetti, with whom Chiuri worked earlier in her career at Fendi and Valentino, as well as Karishma Swali, creative director of the Chanakya embroidery workshop in Mumbai, which partnered with the designer on countless Dior collections and show sets.

During a visit to his workshop earlier in the day, another regular collaborator, Italian illustrator Pietro Ruffo, described watching his sketches come alive on silk scarves, store displays and advertising, thanks to the collective work of Dior’s teams. 

“That is something I really appreciate about Maria Grazia: she becomes like a conductor,” he said. “She manages to create an incredible symphony, often remaining in the background herself and trying to draw the best out of everyone.” 

Chiuri emerged as a powerful cultural connector, initiating collaborations with leading artists including Mickalene Thomas, Judy Chicago and Joana Vasconcelos – a practice linked to the house’s founder, Christian Dior, who began his career as a gallerist.

She prioritized working with women artists from her debut show in 2016, which featured a T-shirt emblazoned with “We Should All Be Feminists,” the title of an essay by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

This has resulted in some memorable moments, like the fall 2020 show where Bernard Arnault, one of the world’s richest men, sat surrounded by neon signs spelling out “Patriarchy = Repression.”

“I believe it’s more difficult for creative women to emerge in art, so the idea of being able to take advantage of this great opportunity of working at Dior to give more visibility to different women, with different opinions, has always been an essential tenet of my job. Obviously, this does not exclude men,” Chiuri told WWD.

Her circle of female writers, artists, choreographers and photographers amplified collections built around strong brand signatures such as the Bar jacket, pleated tulle skirts, goddess gowns and hit accessories like the Book Tote bag and the Slingback shoe. 

These have helped Dior quadruple revenues from 2.2 billion euros in sales in 2017 to 8.7 billion euros in 2024, according to HSBC estimates. LVMH does not break out revenues by brand.

But the group has disappointed markets in recent quarters with flagging sales amid a global slowdown in demand for luxury goods. Organic revenues for its key fashion and leather goods division were down 5 percent in the first three months of the year, with Dior performing slightly worse than the segment average.

In a bid to pique consumer interest, LVMH has appointed new creative directors at several of its marquee brands. Anderson, who previously helmed Loewe, will show his first men’s collection for Dior in June.

Bernard Arnault surprised the fashion world — and apparently everybody at LVMH — when he revealed at the group’s annual shareholders’ meeting in April that Anderson was succeeding Kim Jones.

Meanwhile, Celine’s new artistic director Michael Rider will make his debut with a fashion show in Paris on July 6, while Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are to show their first collection for Loewe in October.

A global force

Chiuri fueled the Dior juggernaut by staging blockbuster shows in destinations as far-flung as Mumbai, Mexico City, Tokyo, Athens, Marrakech and Seoul, showcasing the creativity of local artists and artisans, and stoking global brand recognition and desirability.

Indeed, Dior was ranked as the strongest luxury and premium brand in the top 50 ranking published last week by consultancy Brand Finance — rising three positions to surpass Porsche, Rolex and Chanel.

But from the beginning, Chiuri was the target of critics who skimmed over the political messages of her shows and dismissed her efforts to create wearable wardrobe options for women as bland commercialism.

“In some way, it was like not recognizing that I have worked in fashion since I was 20 years old for many different companies,” she told WWD in 2023. 

Chiuri noted that she started out with the five Fendi sisters, and later worked alongside Valentino Garavani and his partner Giammetti. During that period, she developed a reputation as a hitmaker, responsible for the hugely successful Baguette bag at Fendi and the Rockstud pump at Valentino.

“The stereotypical idea that the creativity is more with genius male artists is very strong even today,” she said. “I think there is this kind of a double standard. It’s very strong, but probably because I’m just a little bit an outsider in some way.”

Chiuri is married to fashion entrepreneur Paolo Regini and mother to a son, Niccolò, and daughter, Rachele, who worked with her as cultural adviser in the creative department at Dior and will now oversee programming at the Teatro della Cometa, the theater the family has restored in Rome. 

“A female designer with two kids who is also married is completely uncool,” Chiuri said ironically. “You have to be very strange, to take drugs, to arrive late, to be desperate, not to be happy.”

The designer has also been called out for not using plus-size models in her shows, and for featuring an all-white cast in the short film she made with director Matteo Garrone at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Dior meanwhile faced a public relations crisis over a probe into allegations of worker exploitation at several Chinese-owned firms in Italy producing luxury goods. The house said last week it has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Chiuri has sought to promote more sustainable production methods and create jobs for women, especially in India, while admitting those efforts will take time to bear fruit.

“We do our best. I don’t think that there is a solution, because we are speaking about a system, but we can work in a way that could be just a little bit better,” she said. 

Her designs drew inspiration from the archive not only of Dior himself, who headed the house for a decade until his untimely death in 1957, but also successive creative directors such as Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan and John Galliano. “From the beginning, I said that I want to be like a curator for the brand,” she said.

While her couture creations leaned toward Dior’s architectural style, her ready-to-wear embraced the pragmatism of Bohan’s approach. Chiuri expanded the brand’s offerings in sportswear, athleisure and knitwear. “It’s very important to create things that are very flexible and that different kinds of bodies can wear,” she explained.

Whatever she does next, Chiuri can rest in the knowledge that she left a lasting mark at Dior.

“This is my obsession, also in the past in the other brands where I worked: to create some elements that can become icons and recognizable for the brand that are not only the logo,” she said. “To create pieces that are timeless, this is the dream of all designers.”