Entrée to Black Paris Blog

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

Josephine, Mickaline, and Dior

Cover image: Noir est Beau - Josephine Baker 1
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

"The Dior spring-summer 2023 collection is guided by Josephine Baker, the African-American singer and dancer who arrived from the United Stats in the mid 1920s to the cosmopolitan city of Paris, which was a dream destination for artists, writers, and fashion designers."

This is the first sentence of Dior's online article about the "Craft of Thought" collection designed by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri and revealed during Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2023.

Josephine Baker-inspired fashions by Dior
Screenshot from Dior video

Chiuri called upon Mickalene Thomas to create the decor for the enormous temporary structure in the garden at the Rodin Museum, where the general public was invited to see the 2023 Spring-Summer Haute Couture fashion show. The tent remained open for viewing for several days afterward and was dismantled on January 30, 2023.

View of tent and the Dome church
© Entrée to Black Paris

Thomas, whose exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie coincided with this event, created what Dior called a "new pantheon of women, born out of a conversation dedicated to the importance of black and mixed-race female figures who have become exemplary by choosing to think and act differently." In her inimitable fashion, she created collage portraits of thirteen legendary black women that were printed on textiles and embroidered by the Chanakya ateliers and Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, India.

She calls the installation Noir est beau (Black is beautiful).

The women she honored are (in alphabetical order):

Josephine Baker
Diahann Carroll
Dorothy Dandridge
Marpessa Dawn
Ophelia DeVore
Lena Horne
Eartha Kitt
Donyale Luna
Josephine Premice
Hazel Scott
Nina Simone
Naomi Sims
Helen Williams

Josephine Baker was featured in three "extra large" works, one of which served as the frame for the passage through which models (almost half of whom were black or other women of color) entered the exhibition space.

At the opposite end of the space, an information panel presented Thomas' quote regarding her motivation for choosing these women for the project:

“The inspiration for the creative process developed through conversation about the importance of Black female role models that broke racial barriers by going against the grain and creating a new platform for many others. In choosing these thirteen phenomenal Black women, across continents, the consideration was to research a diverse and eclectic group of women with the odds set against them. In spaces that attempted to reject or impede their success, they persevered with confidence, elegance, beauty and talent. All of these Noir est beau have achieved and accomplished incredible feats that warrant this notable celebration with a brand like Dior.”

Thomas worked with Dior for the first time in 2020, when she was asked to reinterpret the iconic Dior bar jacket for the company's resort show in Morocco.

I visited the Rodin Museum to see the installation two days before it closed. Find images of the space below.

Views of the Dior Installation
© Entrée to Black Paris

Josephine Baker 2 (detail)
Artwork created by Mickalene Thomas
Embroidered by Chanakya
© Entrée to Black Paris

The art is now part of the Dior Collection. While individual works may be shown at future events, the fashion house does not envision displaying them together again.

See a photo gallery of the Dior collection HERE.

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Sign the petition for Josephine to be honored at the
2024 Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards ceremonies:
HonorJosephineBaker.org