'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams' exhibition’s next stop is Riyadh

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
October 3, 2024

The house of Dior is taking its celebrated exhibition 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams' on the road again. Its next location is in Riyadh at the Saudi National Museum.

The path-breaking exhibition will open in November, at the height of Riyadh Season in the Saudi Capital.
 
The exhibition, a unique compendium of Dior’s creation, features original works by Monsieur Dior in both couture and ready-to-wear; fashion by his six official successors, including the house’s current couturier Maria Grazia Chiuri. Along with video and images of early shows, dating back to the New Look collection of 1947, plus clips from iconic movies featuring Dior and rare accessories.

The exhibition first opened in Paris in 2017 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, before making stops in New York, London, Shanghai, Doha, Tokyo and Chengdu.
 
The exhibition will coincide with the fifth edition of Riyadh Season, a multicultural and sporting festival over two months, whose 2022 opening ceremony attracted 750,000 people, as American rapper Pitbull performed. Some five million visitors are expected at the upcoming season.
 
Each Dior exhibition is carefully edited and re-invented to reflect local interest, as will be the case in Riyadh, where Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams will run from November 21, 2024, to April 2, 2025.
 
Conceived by curator Florence Müller and scenographer Nathalie Crinière, this unique retrospective showcases over seventy years of virtuosity: from the iconic 30, avenue Montaigne to Christian Dior’s fascination with gardens and the splendors of the plant world, via his love of Versailles and the Age of Enlightenment, Dior explained in a press release.
 
“An invitation to celebrate exceptional creative dialogues and Dior’s unique heritage through the prism of art, passion and couture,” Dior added.