Dior Features Shakuntala Kulkarni Armour in Paris

Shakuntala Kulkarni b. 1950, India Follow +

Dior used Shakuntala Kulkarni‘s cane armatures as a backdrop for their autumn–winter 2024–2025 runway show at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris on 27 February.

‘In India, there have been a couple of female warriors and they wore these armours,’ explained Kulkarni in a video shared by Dior.

‘I did it as a metaphor but when you wear it, the way I’ve designed it, there is a kind of restriction in the movement,’ she said. ‘It is like protecting the body at the same time trapping the body.’

The Mumbai-based artist, who is represented by Chemould Prescott Road, shaped the armour to her own body.

Dior’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri praised Kulkarni on Instagram and drew parallels to the fashion house’s ready-to-wear collection, which looked to the liberated femininity of the late 1960s.

The nine sculptures are part of a 2012 series titled ‘Of Bodies, Armour and Cages’ which became the subject of a solo exhibition at Chemould Prescott Road.

Accompanying the sculptures in Paris were stills from her film Juloos (2016) that were printed on canvases and hung on the surrounding walls. The film, in which Shakuntala plays the lead role, revolves around a female warrior wearing a helmet and cane attire.

Kulkarni’s inclusion marks a continued love affair between fashion houses and contemporary art. In Paris this year, Acne Studios invited Estonian artist Villu Jaanisoo to craft armchairs and stools from recycled car tyres, while megaliths by sculptor Lynda Benglis transformed JW Anderson’s Spring/Summer 2024 menswear collection for Loewe last year. —[O]

Main image: Dior's autumn–winter 2024/2025 show at Paris Fashion Week featured artworks by Shakuntala Kulkarni. Courtesy Dior. Photo: Adrien Dirand.