PERFECT CANVAS

We meet three of the artists who have reinterpreted the classic Lady Dior bag to mark ten years of the fashion house's collaboration with creatives

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Gianfranco Ferré, Dior’s creative director from 1989 to 1997, designed a perfectly structured square bag with rounded handles that he affectionately called “chouchou”, meaning “favourite”.

Its quilted “cannage” stitching echoed the Napoleon III chairs used at Dior’s couture shows, while gold charms spelling “Dior” added symbolic luck.

In 1995, Bernadette Chirac asked Gianfranco to help to select a gift for Diana, Princess of Wales, during her visit to Paris. The bag was chosen and Diana wore it immediately. Back in London, she ordered several versions.

Soon after, the design was renamed the Lady Dior. In 2015, Dior invited creatives to put their own stamp on the bag, and this year, to mark the tenth anniversary of the Dior Lady Art initiative, ten creatives are producing one or more bags to celebrate. Here, we speak to three of the artists chosen to reinterpret an icon.

SOPHIA LOEB