DIOR FALL 2023: INDIA CALLING

MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI'S latest collection is an homage to the Indian embroideries that have always inspired her, and the people who make them.

- Ashwini Arun Kumar

The Gateway of India has symbolised different things for different generations of Indians. Although it was built to commemorate the coronation of King George V as Emperor of India, it became a symbol of our independence when the last remaining British troops exited the country through this very gateway, 23 years after its construction. In the ’90s, when the then Bombay had cemented its position as the financial capital of the country, the magnificent structure posed as an incontrovertible proof of having made it to anyone who stood in front of it. But, on March 30 this year, the mood was different. When House of Dior realised the impossible feat of bringing together 850 guests – local and international – to view its Fall 2023 collection against the backdrop of this Indo-Saracenic-style structure, it proved that India is now a covetable luxury market.

Ninety-nine models, most of them Indian, with Flapper era-inspired hair, intense smokey eyes and pearls, emerged from underneath a specially-erected mini archway covered with a