SEOUL SISTERS: After stops in China and Japan, the Dior retrospective is arriving in South Korea.
The “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition is set to run at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the futuristic cultural hub designed by the late British architect Zaha Hadid, from April 19 to July 13, the French fashion house said Wednesday.
The blockbuster exhibit, which debuted at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2017 to celebrate the brand’s 70th anniversary, touches on founder Christian Dior’s love of flowers and gardens, the work of the haute couture workshops in Paris, and Dior’s history of dressing women for balls and exceptional parties.
Curated by Florence Müller, the Seoul exhibition will also feature works by artists of Korean origin such as Kim HyunJoo, Soo Sunny Park and Zadie Xa.
In addition, the space dedicated to the Lady Dior will showcase handbags customized by figures from the Korean art scene as part of the annual Dior Lady Art project, in addition to contributions from 17 more under the Lady Dior As Seen By banner, which includes broader artistic interpretations of the bestselling bag.
Designed by Shohei Shigematsu, a partner at Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’ OMA agency, the exhibit will include rooms dedicated to perfume alongside dresses worn by the house’s fragrance ambassadors, such as Rihanna for J’adore and Natalie Portman for Miss Dior.
The poster for the “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition in Seoul.
Courtesy of Dior
To mark the occasion, Dior is renewing its partnership with Ewha Womans University, a historic private women’s university in Seoul where it showed its pre-fall 2022 women’s collection designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Since 2022, Dior has sponsored educational programs and events at the university, including scholarship opportunities and mentoring within the Women@Dior program with UNESCO.
Delphine Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior Couture, said prolonging the alliance “represents a unique opportunity to perpetuate the essential commitment to inclusion, autonomy, sisterhood and transmission; all of these missions are more vital than ever, enabling younger generations of women to assert themselves in the expression of their personality and opinion, and to participate in the construction of an increasingly desirable future.”
Since its success in Paris the Dior retrospective has made stops in London; New York City; Tokyo; Shanghai; Chengdu, China; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Doha, Qatar.
Dior has staged a number of exhibitions in South Korea, and has further ramped up its visibility through its relationship with Blackpink’s Jisoo, who in 2021 was named a global ambassador for fashion and beauty.
Jisoo at the Christian Dior fall 2025 ready-to-wear show.
Swan Gallet
