Dior will host a phygital show in Lecce for Cruise 2021

UPDATE 23/06/2020: Although at the beginning of the pandemic Dior's Cruise 2021 show in Lecce, which was to be held on May 9th was postponed indefinitely, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pietro Beccari, CEO of the brand, announced that the show will go on as planned and will be held in the center of Lecce on July 22nd. Only difference: there will be no audience. Just as Riccardo Tisci decided to do for Burberry, Chiuri and Beccari will also opt for the phygital solution, that is, a physical fashion show visible only digitally. Even without an audience, Beccari said, the show will mobilize a thousand people including technicians, staff, models, musicians and video makers.

The one for Dior's Cruise 2021 will be one of the most ambitious and important phygital shows in post-Covid fashion and will serve as a yardstick for testing the actual possibilities of the format. Speaking about the project to the press, Beccari emphasized his partiality to the physical fashion shows, saying: "Nothing carries the emotion of a real fashion show". And he went on to note how the maison itself was founded by Christian Dior after a war, emphasizing that optimism is at the heart of his philosophy. Among the talents that will be working on the show there will be the artist Marinella Senatore, who will decorate the set with traditional luminaries; Pietro Ruffo, who will deal with botanical-themed graphics and a series of traditional Puglian craftsmen from the Foundation Le Constantine who will use sewing techniques such as that of the tombolo for garments. 

Finally, Beccari announced that the collection's garments will arrive in boutiques in October and have already been sold to buyers - essentially stating that Dior's retail calendar will realign to the seasons of the year. It has also been announced that the brand will show at the next Paris Fashion Week in September and, this time, the public will be back in the rows. The Couture show, however, is still suspended. The brand also has plans for the Chinese market, with plans to open its exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai, as well as the launch of a series of nineteen pop-up stores in China starting July 23.

The first time Maria Grazia Chiuri heard about fashion was in a small tailoring shop in Tricase, Salento, owned by her parents. Although the creative director of Dior was born and raised in Rome, her parents and her roots come from Puglia. And it's in Puglia, and specifically in Lecce, that Chiuri has decided to set the next show of Dior's Cruise 2021 collection, which will be held on May 9th. Previous locations chosen by Chiuri had been Los Angeles, the French location of Chantilly and Marrakech.

Originally the date of the show was set to May 27th and probably was changed to facilitate the movement from Naples of the guests who two days earlier will have attended the Chanel show that will be held instead in Capri. Many brands will show their Pre-Spring collections in unusual locations this season: Armani will bring his show to Dubai, Hermès will show for the first time in London, Versace and Gucci will be in the United States and Prada in Japan. 

Pre-Spring collections are often lucrative for brands, which are able to fill the commercial "gap" that happens when the clothes of the previous season are about to go on sale and those of the next have not yet arrived at the stores. For the brands it is also an opportunity to organize shows unrelated to the usual city locations and create spectacular and extravagant set designs, just think of the Dolce & Gabbana show at the Valley of the Temples or the Cruise 2019 of Gucci, set in a ancient cemetery in Arles.

Stay connected to nss magazine for all updates on the Dior Cruise 2021 show.