Dior taps 10 artists to customize handbags

Last year, Dior collaborated with 7 artists for customized Lady Dior bags, and they were met with high acclaim. Now, Dior has decided to continue the program for the second year in a row with ten new artists.

First made available in 1995, the Lady Dior bag became iconic when Princess Diana was photographed with it on a trip to Paris in 1996.

For this iteration, called Dior Lady Art #2, the fashion house gave carte blanche to the artists to transpose their creative genius into Dior's leather working language. Dior's in-house atelier helped the artists transpose their vision onto their bags. Everything from the bag's fabric to its size, color, jewelry, handles and stitching were all adjusted for the artists vision.

Dior continues artist collaborations for Lady Dior bag second year in a row

The artists come from all over the world and have very diverse backgrounds.

The ten artists include Lee Boule from Korea, American poet and composer John Giorno, Chinese mosaic master Hong Hao, Los Angeles-based satirist Friedrich Kunat, Swedish-Guinean Namsa Leuba, Frenchwoman Betty Mariani, Kenyan Jamilla Okubo, Jack Pearson from Massachusetts, the young American avant-gardeist Spencer Swinney and installation artist David Wiseman.

Price points for the handbags range from 5700 dollars to 9700 dollars. They will be available in select Dior boutiques and shop-in-shops worldwide beginning December 1.

2017 has been a very promising year for Dior's business. In the first half of 2017, the Christian Dior Group reported revenues of 20.7 billion euros, up 15 percent at actual exchange rates and 12 percent on a constant consolidation scope and currency basis. During the first half of the year, the Group benefited from a favorable comparison base, particularly in Asia, but also in France, where activity was affected last year by a decline in tourism.

photos: courtesy of Dior