Paris Fashion Week: This Indian artist found a place of honour at the Dior show

At the Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday, Dior’s runway transformed into a powerful visual representation of cultural preservation. Sculpted figures, resembling warriors clad in flowing gowns reminiscent of skeletal forms, stood guard, a metaphor for the protection of vanishing traditions.

But who was behind this magnificent backdrop of sentinels? These creations, the brainchild of the renowned Indian artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, served as a dramatic backdrop for the collection, which celebrated the freedom and empowerment of modern women through ready-to-wear clothing.

Kulkarni, known for exploring the female experience across various contexts, adorned the space with sculptures and illustrations of full-body armour crafted from canes.

 

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Entitled “of bodies, armour and cages,” the series acts as a metaphor for female strength, courage, resilience, generosity, and dignity. The armatures highlight the paradoxical nature of clothing and armour – elements designed to clothe, protect, and transform the body can also imprison and restrict it.

Alongside the installation, Kulkarni showcased fragments of her 2016 film Juloos, printed on canvas. According to Dior’s official website, the piece “examines feminine subjectivity, not only in light of the body’s social and political vulnerability but also, and more importantly, its power within the urban space and social system in which we evolve.”

Models present creations by designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Fall-Winter 2024/2025 Women’s ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week in Paris. (Source: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)

Originally trained in mural painting, Kulkarni’s work consistently seeks to engage large audiences, transitioning from flat surfaces to encompass sculpture, performance, and new media.

Her primary focus lies on the struggles of urban women constrained by traditional patriarchal norms, capturing the wounds and anxieties stemming from these restrictions, similar to the work of Somnath Hore, under whom she studied at Santiniketan.

 

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This display marks another chapter in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s ongoing fusion of fashion and fine art at Paris Fashion Week. Seeking inspiration from various aspects of womanhood and Dior’s rich history, Chiuri, Dior’s creative director, delved deep into the 1960s for the Fall Winter 2024 collection.

Celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Maisie Williams, Elizabeth Debicki, and Natalie Portman were among the captivated audience for this collection that revisited the era of ready-to-wear’s genesis at Dior, a pivotal moment “when fashion left the atelier to conquer the world,” as described by the fashion house.

 

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