"ESPRIT DIOR" BEIJING EXHIBITION GETS NEW STARLING DATE

Event Follows Exhibitions By Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Chanel

"Esprit Dior" hits Beijing this November 

Following in the footsteps of Louis Vuitton’s “Voyages,”Chanel’s “Culture Chanel,” Bulgari’s Beijing retrospective, Fendi’s legendary Great Wall showcase and Cartier’sForbidden City extravaganza, Christian Dior is set to launch China’s latest luxury-art partnership at the National Museum of China in Beijing. Originally scheduled to run from November 13 through next January, the launch of the “Esprit Dior” exhibition has been pushed back to December 10, with Chinese media noting that LVMH head Bernard Arnault will be in attendance.

                                                Photo: Patrick Demarchelier

Featuring more than 100 dresses, curated by Florence Muller, the exhibition will explore 10 themes though apparel, perfumes, accessories, photographs by Patrick Demarchelier and work by Chinese contemporary artists like Liu Jianhua, Zhang Huan and Wen Fang. Among the themes highlighted in the exhibition are Christian Dior’s fondness for gardens, the luxury house’s celebrity connections and “emblematic codes.” High jewelry — one of the label’s strong points — gets its very own section.

Though previous luxury brand exhibitions at the National Museum of China were met with mixed reviews in the local media, museum deputy director Chen Lusheng said last year that these exhibitions fit with his mission of paying equal attention to history and art. Speaking at the launch of Louis Vuitton’s “Voyages” last year, Chen told Chinanews that although the National Museum is a non-profit organization, it will continue to organize cultural activities as well as commercial activities, and that we can only expect the number of luxury brand partnerships at the museum to increase. With the impending launch of the latest Dior exhibition, we can see that this remains the case one year on.