A Striking New Fashion and Photography Exhibition Celebrates the Legacy of Dior

High fashion today thrives on the overlap of heritage and future. The most storied houses tap young hot talents for their coveted creative director roles and mount soaring museum shows which trace their stories to the very first atelier day. Presented in the most cutting-edge ways, their archives not only see light again but also adopt uncharted narratives. The popular approach helps luxury brands contextualize their influence on the present moment, especially for the younger crowd while also reminding seasoned fashion lovers what legacy means for tomorrow.

Dior’s newest project in New York immerses the visitors with a crash course on the Parisian house’s grand impact on high fashion and culture by presenting the work of all of its seven creative directors in a single presentation. Organized by Vogue Paris’s taste-maker former editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld, the three-day free exhibition, titled “UBS House of Craft x Dior,” is a partnership between the Maison and the Swiss bank, and features newly commissioned photography from Brigitte Niedermair who has been shooting for the brand for the last twelve years.

Spread across a circular venue with a glass ceiling in downtown Manhattan, Niedermair’s energetic images are accompanied by arresting garments designed by the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, as well as none other than Christian Dior himself. “We wanted to present historical pieces in ways that people would look at them today and immediately want to put on,” Roitfeld tells Galerie. The celebrated editor was given access to the entire archive to make her selection, and during the process, she was amazed by the young crafts people who runs Dior’s heritage team. “I was impressed that new generation is interested in the tradition of craft,” she says. 

Roitfeld looked no further than Niedermair for the shoot and gave her a quick call for a collaboration: “We thought Brigitte would be slammed but she quickly said ‘yes, let’s do it’.” The duo immediately agreed on giving archival garments new energetic twists with additions of contemporary pieces. “Dior gave us the freedom to add a touch of today and, for example, pair a classic jacket with a latex skirt,” adds Roitfeld. For Niedermair, the project is a love song for analog photography. “We could achieve this almost three dimensional quality by only shooting with a 4 x 5 inch camera,” says the Parisian photographer who believes in “preserving the tradition” when it comes to fashion photography.

A 1949-dated evening dress entirely covered in a rich floral details, for example, is accentuated with a washed denim jacket. A Galliano design jacket and skirt, both embroidered in turquoise snake skin, from 2004 is given a playful update with a headpiece created in an homage to ancient Egyptian god Anubis.

Surreal touches give some of the images an Alice in Wonderland-like twisted glee. Take, for example, a Grazia Chiuri-designed sheer dress from 2019, here completed with a gold leaf mini sculptural replica of the iconic facade of Dior’s 30 Avenue Montaigne headquarters. Richard Avedon’s 1955-dated emblematic photograph of model Dovima with circus elephants in a black and white dress which was among Saint Laurent’s first designs for the house is celebrated with a take on scale and narrative. The elephant in Niedermair’s interpretation is instead made minuscule, collaged onto the tip of the model’s finger.

“Photography to me is about slowing down,” adds Niedermair who built a mutual trust with Roitfeld along the process. “Carine had to believe in me because with analog camera, we couldn’t check what the images looked like.” The photographer was mesmerized by the iconic garments she was surrounded by because “we wanted to modernize them but also keep them in the eternity.”

UBS House of Craft x Dior is open at 28 Pine street until June 8, 2025.