philippe starck-designed 'miss dior' chair illuminated in ethereal milan show

dior by starck: a passion for the minimum

Philippe Starck and Dior unite in their pursuit of perfection at Milan Design Week 2022 with a refined edition of Christian Dior’s Medallion Chair — this time renamed Miss Dior in a tribute to femininity. The event marks the first collaboration between the fashion house and the french designer and architect. Debuting in an ethereal and cavernous theater below Milan’s Palazzo Citterio, the space reflects the elegant minimalism of the chair and distills an exhibition to its bones. Both the chair — with its ultra-refined silhouette and singular material — and the show itself are ‘animated by a passion for the minimum.’

image courtesy Dior

the luminous dior show at palazzo citterio

The Dior by Starck exhibition (see more here) at Milan Design Week invites the viewer to descend below the sunny Palazzo Citterio to an underground mezzanine. With cinematic music surrounding, the stage below is at first awash in total darkness until it is at once punctuated by a beam of light to reveal a single, gleaming chair. A light-show begins, uncovering a panoramic grid of Miss Dior chairs, each briefly revealed under its own rhythmically flickering spotlight.

The theatrical display cumulates in a wash of soft light, and viewers are invited down for a closer look. Among the field of Miss Dior chairs, it’s observed how the light bends off the fluid, reflective surfaces. Beneath the spotlights, the chairs appear to glow.

image by designboom

philippe starck’s new medallion chair

Unlike a typical Medallion Chair, Philippe Starck’s reinterpretation is more fluid, its legs and arms impossibly thin, appearing as stranded filaments. These qualities along with the singular materiality and softened corners render the chair ultra-minimalistic.

It is noted that many of the Miss Dior chairs shows only one armrest — a gestural ‘pose’ to signify the posture of ‘haute couture.’ Philippe Starck had commented: ‘I wouldn’t ask myself ‘why only one armrest?’ I would ask myself ‘why not?”

Dior by Starck is on view from June 7th – 12th, 2022 at Palazzo Citterio, Milan.

image by designboom

Philippe Starck writes: ‘Some have been looking for the perfect sheath dress all their lives; I, on the other hand, have always dreamed of the perfect chair. This icon of perfection clearly exists in our collective subconscious, in the form of the Louis XVI Medallion chair and its magical oval, one of the symbols of the Maison Dior. Everything has always led me back to this chair.’

image by designboom