Maria Grazia Chirui is one of my biggest inspirations and a very influential woman in the fashion industry. A lover of a good pair of sweatpants, the color black, and a passionate pride and prejudice fan, it's hard for her not to be one of my role models. This past week Chiuri announced her resignation as co creative director at Valentino. Valentino is an Italian fashion company founded by Valentino Garavani that has been around since 1960.
Maria Grazia Chiuri attended a design school in her home town of Rome then shortly after picked up a position working at Fendi where she worked for 10 years. Maria began her career as co creative director in September of 2007 when Valentino Garavani, creator of the brand, decided to resign as creative director. Prior to this she worked alongside Valentino Garavani as a creative influence where she and Pierpaolo Piccioli were in charge of creating accessories. Maria created many beautiful designs alongside Pierpaolo Piccioli who was also a co creative director. The two met at Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome and thus a strong professional relationship begun. The two have created together for many years at Valentino and the end of these two working together will be very clear in the creations of Valentino. The two have almost always worked together as a pair and have even said they feel lone designers are alone with their pen and feelings and find the concept old.
Maria Grazia Chiuri will now become the creative director of Dior, replacing their previous creative director Raf Simons who resigned last October. Ending her 17 years at Valentino will be hard for many people who follow the brand, as she has become very well known for her use of flowery embroidery and elegant details. Her designs with Piccioli have often been long billowing, detailed dresses embrace Valentino's aesthetic so it will be interesting to see what she created at Dior. Chirui is already making history at Dior as their first female creative director. She follows in the footsteps of seven male couturiers, so hopefully the feminine influence will be appreciated. It will be interesting to see if Piccioli comes to work with her at Dior, due to their history in fashion together.
Chiuri will release her first collection with Dior in September 2016.
