Mats Gustafson Illustrates Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior in New Book
SECOND SERVING: For Swedish artist Mats Gustafson, Dior is a seemingly endless source of inspiration.
The house will release a second tome dedicated to his work, titled “Dior by Mats Gustafson, Vol. II,” showcasing the silhouettes of womenswear designer Maria Grazia Chiuri’s fall 2020 collection, as well as the three-tiered floral gown Natalie Portman wore in the “Miss Dior” commercial that debuted the following spring.
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“A dress only becomes interesting when it’s worn,” Gustafson said. To that end, he’s been capturing the movement of Chiuri’s clothes through his illustrations.
“In his ink drawings, the Swedish artist conveys a desire to dissociate himself from context, decorative elements and ornamentation in favor of an absolute quest for a garment’s truth, its representation becoming an end unto itself,” the company said.
“His pencil strokes would be almost abstract did they not express a multitude of detail, translating the delicacy of lace, the complexity of embroidery, the sensual feel of a leather bag, and the virtuoso architecture of a model,” it added.
The watercolor illustrations capture the texture, transparency and flow of the garments.
Gustafson has been chronicling the house’s collections since 2012 under Raf Simons. Chiuri joined Dior as women’s creative director in 2016.
The artist launched his international career under Grace Coddington at British Vogue, and his work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and U.S. Vogue, as well as in ad campaigns for Tiffany & Co., Romeo Gigli, Hermès and Yohji Yamamoto.
The new tome, available on Nov. 5, features more than 200 illustrations, with text from New York Times and The New Yorker writer Holly Brubach. A previous book, published by Rizzoli in 2017, chronicled the work of Simons’ tenure.
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