This spring, Dior made shirts that blared “Why are there no great women artists?” The question was a quote from feminist art theorist Linda Nochlin, and though it may not be true (Frida! Georgia! Alma Thomas! Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun!), it was provocative enough to spur both Instagram snaps and clothing sales.
This week as a small self-rebuttal, Dior artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri debuts limited-edition Dior Lady handbags created in collaboration with some of today’s most noteworthy female artists.
The pieces are extremely limited edition, begin at $5000, and are available starting this January. Scroll through to see them all, and effectively prove Nochlin’s quote is (thankfully) getting more obsolete by the day.
Mickalene Thomas
Courtesy of Dior
Best known for her mixed-medium works of art, the African-American artist often tackles issues of race, gender, and sexuality in her pieces. In short, she’s awesome.
Li Shurui
Courtesy of Dior
A graduate of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Li is one of the few female Chinese artists with regular solo shows. Her exploration of how light and space influence emotion has made her a favorite at galleries worldwide.
Haruka Kojin
Courtesy of Dior
Kojin was born in Hiroshima, Japan, and is most famous for her “contact lens” series of installations, which reflected everything from blooming flowers to golden feathers in a series of trippy, warped viewpoints.
Polly Apfelbaum
Courtesy of Dior
If you like your art colorful, geometric, and a bit hallucinatory, get ready to fall in love with this Pennsylvania-born artist, who’s been a gallery fixture since the 1980’s.
Pae White
Courtesy of Dior
“My art has attempted to subvert the viewer’s expected relationship to an everyday object, nudging them off balance, encouraging a deeper look,” says White, who works in Los Angeles and considers her pieces to be an intersection of art, craft, and architecture.
Lee Bul
Courtesy of Dior
A native of South Korea, Bul’s large sculptures and room-filling installations are based on the political ideals of feminism and justice.
Isabel Cornaro
Courtesy of Dior
This French sculptor and filmmaker has been exhibited in the Louvre, and works between Paris and Geneva.
Olga de Amaral
Courtesy of Dior
An abstract artist from Colombia, De Amaral works with metallic leaf and fiber, and is still creating new pieces at 86 years old.
Burçak Bingöl
Courtesy of Dior
This Turkish artist mines the competing themes of culture and industry to make sculptures, photos, paintings, and more.
Janaina Tschäpe
Courtesy of Dior
Born in Germany and raised in Brazil, Tschäpe is inspired by the infinite possibilities of water and the blurred line between fantasy, symbolism, and imagination.
Morgane Tschiember
Courtesy of Dior
She’s a French sculptor who explores inter-dimensional relationships and the balance that must exist between space, time, and beauty.
