In collaboration with Clare Hunter, art historian and author of an expansive biography of Mary Stuart, Maria Grazia Chiuri takes us to Scotland for Dior Cruise 2025, illuminating the links between Monsieur Dior, the highlands, and the charm of Tudor style.&nbsp;

The Dior Cruise 2025 collection, a history-woven affair, was unveiled in the Drummond Gardens in Scotland with a fantastical runway presentation. The gardens, located just 15 kilometers from the Gleneagles Hotel in the heart of the Scottish countryside were beloved by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/jewellery/la-rose-dior-jewellery-the-different-facets-of-christian-dior-favourite-flower" target="_blank" title="'La Rose Dior' explores the different facets of Christian Dior's favourite flower" rel="noopener">Christian Dior</a>&nbsp;himself, who in 1955, presented his collections in the ballroom of the very same hotel to Scottish nobility.
For&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/every-runway-look-dior-fall-winter-2024-pfw-paris-fashion-week" target="_blank" title="Dior&rsquo;s Fall/Winter 2024 Collection Celebrates the Iconic Miss Dior Line" rel="noopener">Maria Grazia Chiuri</a>, creative director of the house, the <a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/watch-the-dior-cruise-2025-show-live-from-scotland-fashion-livestream" title="Watch the Dior Cruise 2025 Show Live From Scotland Here" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dior Cruise 2025</a> collection presented the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of&nbsp;Christian&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/every-runway-look-dior-fall-winter-2024-pfw-paris-fashion-week" target="_blank" title="Dior&rsquo;s Fall/Winter 2024 Collection Celebrates the Iconic Miss Dior Line" rel="noopener">Dior</a>&nbsp;and travel to all of the breathtaking locations where he presented his work. Memories of the house's storied past, materials seen in archival collections, and timeless stories were seamlessly integrated into the Dior Cruise 2025 collection.&nbsp;
Through the collection, the unicorn and the thistle&mdash;symbols of Scotland&mdash;are inserted into a new vision of the&nbsp;wildflower&nbsp;motif and become heraldic embroidery that recalls the mastery of that technique, part of Mary Stuart's style which emerges in Clare Hunter's biography:&nbsp;Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power. The art historian Hunter, with whom Maria Grazia has collaborated since 2020, has highlighted the meaning and purpose of embroidery as a means of communication for women throughout&nbsp;<a href="https://preview.lofficielusa.com/fashion/jean-paul-gaultier-le-beau-le-parfum-madonna-pop-culture-design-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">history</a>&nbsp;within her work. Patterns, colors, compositions, and symbols of the collection are a tribute to the resilience and wit of the historical figure of Mary Stuart. "In the collection, there is no real specific reference to the class of Mary Stuart, we studied her history, observed paintings but we concentrated on her aesthetics. We highlighted the political interpretation of Mary Stuart's embroideries, it is important to remember that she used embroidery as a tool of expressive freedom," Chiuri told Giampietro Baudo,&nbsp;L'OFFICIEL Italia&nbsp;Editor-in-Chief.
Tartan, which had a major presence in the Dior Cruise 2025 collection, was utilized with its historical significance and versatility in mind. Christian Dior also held a fascination with the emblematic material and named it "The only fabric that manages to resist fashion"&nbsp;in&nbsp;The Little Dictionary of Fashion.&nbsp;Although the garment, which symbolizes different origins and associations depending upon its colour and appearance, began as purely representational fashion in Scotland, it has taken on different connections as it was utilized over time, ranging from romanticism to punk fashion. "I worked on the kilt as a drape of fabric placed on the body...this idea took shape to create clothes as if they were blankets draped over the silhouette," says the designer.

Images courtesy of Dior

As a means of paying homage to the historical connection between the Maison and the Scottish highlands, Chiuri incorporated imagery of the original Dior Spring/Summer 1955 presentation into printed fabric, which can be spotted on the edges of kilts and peacoats within the collection, linking the past to the present through visionary fashion. Soft velvet,&nbsp;romantic&nbsp;lace, roughly-cut tartan, and shimmery organza co-exist within garments in the collection, bringing forth a visually engaging image of harmony and balance through the most unexpected avenues. Through varying hem lengths and contrasting silhouettes, Chiuri brings a modern edge to the collection, present in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/netflix-bridgerton-season-3-regencycore-regency-fashion-trend-tiktok-shopping" target="_blank" title="Bridgerton Fever: How to Pull Off The Regencycore Trend" rel="noopener">corseted</a>&nbsp;tartan looks accompanied by shorts and puffed-out leather jackets with Tudor-style ruffled collars. Further toying with historical elements of fashion, the Dior Cruise 2025 collection includes references ranging from punk-rock in nature, with knee-high leather boots and argyle socks, to chainmail-esque bibs and fitted hoods. Details like sizeable metallic studs and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/jewellery/girl-with-a-pearl-necklace" target="_blank" title="Not Just a String of Pearls: Dior's Teddy-D Necklace" rel="noopener">pearls</a>&nbsp;are dotted onto the edges of garments, offering a shimmering, exhilarating touch to pieces.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.lofficielsingapore.com/fashion/dior-spring-summer-2023-ready-to-wear-show-paris-fashion-week" target="_blank" title="Paris Reimagined with Dior's Spring/Summer 2023 Ready-to-Wear Show" rel="noopener">Embroidery</a>&nbsp;and cross-stitching, both in traditional English and Scottish styles, were reflected within the collection, at once adding texture and body to garments, but also as a tribute to Mary Stuart, who was incredibly adept at embroidering herself.&nbsp;"Cross-stitch embroidery inspired by Scottish culture but also references to English embroidery, I wanted to give embroidery an idea that was not too luxurious, but a little wild, to safeguard the romantic aspect of this country.&nbsp;At Dior, they just let me do what they want I want and I'm happy. I like collaborating with artisans, working with artists, and supporting the embroidery school...this is one of the fundamental motivations that Dior allows me to do important and profound things, and this makes me very happy" explains Maria Grazia Chiuri.
To fully explore the legacy of Mary Stuart, whose life was spent between France and Scotland,&nbsp; Chiuri also commissioned the artist Pollyanna Johnson to create a contemporary portrait of the royal figure.
The house's connections with English royalty are longstanding sources of inspiration for Chiuri. One of the most famous royal patrons of Dior was&nbsp;Princess Margaret, who flocked to meet Christian Dior whenever the designer held an event in Britain.&nbsp; For her 21st birthday, she commissioned Monsieur Dior to design her dress. The photo of the princess dressed in Dior, sitting on the velvet sofa, taken by Cecil Beaton, is history.&nbsp;"Christian Dior and Princess Margaret organized a charity event for the Red Cross in 1955. Their friendship was fundamental to the welcome that Dior received in England, a country and culture that has always fascinated him"&nbsp;Chiuri elaborates. The designer himself shared his appreciation for the region and once said: "There is no other country in the world, other than mine, whose lifestyle I like so much. I love English traditions, English courtesy, and English architecture. I even love English cuisine." 
In the memorable 1955 Dior collection unveiled in Scotland, a procession of girls in their delicate evening&nbsp;dresses, followed by dancing pirouettes of elegant Scottish gentlemen in their kilts, enchanted the great designer, as Christian Dior would write in his autobiography,&nbsp;Dior by&nbsp;Dior&mdash;published a year before his death in 1956. In an homage to that fantastical moment, the Dior Cruise 2025 runway show ended with a performance featuring bagpipes and kilts. &nbsp;

Dior Cruise 2025 Explores The Maison's Enduring Connection With Scotland

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