Dior's Resort 2023 Cruise Show and Ad Campaign in Seville Makes Arnault a 21st Century Medici Name

We share images of the Dior Cruise [IG] 2023 Ad Campaign, with creative direction by Fabien Baron and photography by Laura Sciacovelli [IG]. Models include Chai Maximus, Eden Joi, Freja Rothmann, Greta Bultmann, Maryel Uchida, Miriam Sánchez, Raynara Negrine and Yunseo Cho, with Elin Svahn as stylist./ Hair by Guido Palau; makeup by Peter Palau

The Dior Cruise 2023 Show

If you haven’t watched the Dior Cruise 2023 show, it is extraordinary in scope, in respect for the culture of Seville, in the advancement of beauty, in inspiration and emotional sentiment. Some have noted that the event happened on Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

In my opinion, Maria Grazia Chiuri is way too much of a feminist to be celebrating the Catholic Church by choosing her show to coincide with an important Catholic calendar date. Nor is she somehow combining the body and blood of Christ as part of the Eucharist with the extraordinary sensuality and artistry of this fashion show.

In fact, it is more likely that the date represents an act of defiance — and most likely of all — an important open window on the calendar.

Given the extraordinary beauty that is this show itself, we don’t need to make room for some Jesuit, lust-inspired interpretation of the proceeding. This is one designer where it’s best to leave the analysis to the ladies.

Maria Grazia Chiuri presumably has significant respect for the Catholic Church, its intellectual achievements. and the many ways in which the Vatican has been a force for good in the world.

The Dior Creative Director is well aware of Rome’s sins and its refusal to allow equality into the church rituals [except for some minor changes] and — more importantly — its refusal to allow contraception was the most critical path for women and families out of poverty.

She is equally aware of the Catholic Church’s role in advancing the slave trade — probably more than any other institution, as more and more research is unearthed about its history. In 1452, Pope Nicholas V charged Alfonso of Portugal with the Christian duty to enslave any non-Christian. This Papal act is regarded today as the first recorded international edict to literally grant a Christian nation the right to promote, enforce, and heavily profit from slave trading.

The New Medicis

My own takeaways from this extraordinary Dior Cruise 2023 show in Seville is the idea that LVMH, in particular, with its Arnault family really represents the 21st century House of Medici.

Dior is the leader of the pack — even more than Louis Vuitton — which is no shade to LV. I found myself watching the show and vascillating between wet eyes over its extraordinary beauty that includes the music and women being center stage; the celebration of flamenco artist Carmen Amaya, who was the first female flamenco dancer to wear men’s clothes, in the 1950s; centuries of intellectual learning and advancement — much of it closed to women — and Chiuri unleashes it, wherever she goes.

The layers of cultural influence in the Dior show are staggering. But this visionary attitude is also on display in so many of today’s LVMH brands. There’s an intellectual resonance in these brands that towers above that of fashion media.

Their direct support of the artists and creative talent — which increases every year — gives the Arnualt family enormous power and influence. Given the alternatives, I am all for it, because the world of rich people is real and it’s not going anywhere.

So while one observer of the Dior show was combining Catholic spiritualism with the pleasures of the flesh, I was seeing the Arnault family as 21st century Medicis. LOL.How’s that for differing interpretations of the same event. ~ Anne