Anna Paparatti designs Dior Spring-Summer 2022 set at Paris Fashion Week

Italian artist Anna Paparatti (born 1936 in Reggio Calabria) created the scenography for Dior's Spring-Summer 2022 collection show at Paris Fashion Week. The collaboration was initiated by Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was inspired by a recent retrospective of Paparatti's work in Rome curated by Alessio de' Navasques. This is not Chiuri's first partnership with contemporary artists: in summer 2020, Marinella Senatore participated in Dior's show in Lecce, and in May 2021, Marco Lodola designed LED installations for 400 Dior stores worldwide. Two teaser videos on Dior's YouTube channel previewed the show: one shows Paparatti's home-museum—a Wunderkammer filled with exotic objects, photographs, jewelry, statues of Eastern deities, and a disco ball—where she meditates; the other documents the meeting between Chiuri and Paparatti, where the artist describes her artistic journey and concludes, 'Maria Grazia thought I could do this work for Dior. It's karma, there's no other explanation.' Paparatti's work is characterized by oriental atmospheres, Western aesthetics, pop iconography, and a ludic dimension. Her paintings from 1965, 'Il Gioco del Non Senso' and 'Le Ieu de l'Absurde,' directly inspired the show. She was a key figure in Rome's cultural scene in the 1960s and 1970s, known for experimentation, freedom, and nonconformism.