Artists Use Dior Handbags As A Canvas For A Third Time

lady dior art

We first blogged about the Lady Dior project in its inaugural year. At that time, Dior invited seven designers of both sexes to turn the brand’s iconic Lady Dior Handbag into art. This year is the third event of such a kind, only this time the bag has been redesigned exclusively by eleven female artists from all over the world.

Third Edition Lady Dior Art Handbags

third edition lady dior art
Bag by ©Mickalene Thomas, photo: Peter Ash for Dior

Dior presents the third edition of Dior Lady Art, a project initiated in 2016 that has become a much-anticipated annual meeting of haute couture and art. For this new edition the Maison invited eleven women artists to share their vision of the iconic Lady Dior bag by using the architectural handbag as a canvas. Bold or subtle but always fascinating, these interpretations challenge both forms and materials.

lady dior art third edition

lady dior art Bag by ©Janaina Tschäpe, photo: Peter Ash for Dior
Bag by ©Janaina Tschäpe, photo: Peter Ash for Dior

The Lady Dior bag has been a hallmark of the couture house since it was created in 1995. Every element of the bag evokes a hallmark of the Dior spirit and identity, from the charms in homage to those that Christian Dior always carried, to the cannage of the chairs on which guests were seated for his fashion shows. Icon, myth and symbol, Lady Dior is a timeless classic that openly embraces new transformations.

Bag by © Morgane Tschiember, photo:Alfredo Piola for Dior
Bag by © Lee Bul, photo: Alex Finch for Dior

For this third edition of Dior Lady Art, Artistic Director Maria Grazia Chiuri invited a resolutely diverse group of all women artists to revisit the bag, a melting pot of different generations and nationalities, from Colombia, Turkey, South Korea, China, the United States, France and Japan.

pae white lady dior art

Maison Dior gave them carte blanche to redesign the Lady Dior Bag, customizing everything from the materials and colors to the lucky charms to impart their individual artistic style and imagination.

isabelle cornaro lady dior bagharuka kojin lady dior

Each of them reinterpreted the bag in medium and mini versions. Colombian artist Olga de Amaral, a major figure in Latin American abstraction, chose her favorite material, gold, covering small embroidered cotton and linen squares with gold leaf for the medium bag, and embroidering corked calfskin tubes for the mini version.

olga de amaral lady dior bag

American artist Polly Apfelbaum incorporated multicolored graphic motifs for her bags, while Lee Bul of South Korea reworked the Lady Dior by covering it with a rock extraction and foam.

Polly Apfelbaum Lady Dior Third Edition
Lee Bul Lady dior handbag

French sculptor Morgane Tschiember drew inspiration from Japanese influences, using delicate cords to tie up the bag.

Morgane Tschiember Lady Dior Bag

Mickalene Thomas Lady Dior Art Handbag

Janaina Tschape Lady Dior Art third Edition

These multiple transformations reaffirm that the spirit of the Lady Dior bag remains open to myriad interpretations without ever losing its essence. (source)

Burcak Bingol Lady dior art bag

Li Shurui lady dior art bag

For more information visit https://www.dior.com/couture/en_us/the-house-of-dior/exhibitions/dior-lady-art

See the artist designed Lady Dior bags from 2016 here.