Creative Director, Christian Dior
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Hosts Maria Grazia Chiuri
The talented and award-winning writer, recently hosted a highly regarded fashion industry personality, Maria Grazia in Lagos and Channels Book Club was there to cover then event.
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About Maria Chiuri
Maria Grazia Chiuri stepped down as creative director of women's collections at Christian Dior in June 2025 after a nine-year tenure, with her final show for the house being the Cruise 2026 collection held in Rome. In a statement, Chiuri said she was leaving Dior "delighted to have been given this extraordinary opportunity" and expressed gratitude to her teams and ateliers, stating that "together we have written an impactful chapter of which I am immensely proud." Dior chairman and CEO Delphine Arnault praised Chiuri's "inspiring feminist perspective and exceptional creativity," noting that she "has written a key chapter in the history of Christian Dior." Following her departure from Dior, Chiuri has been focused on the restoration and reopening of the Teatro della Cometa in Rome, a project she undertook with her daughter Rachele Regini. Chiuri described becoming "extremely fascinated by the story of Mimi Pecci-Blunt" and said the project was "more than a project, it has been a passion." She stated that the biggest challenge is "to reactivate a space where there is a physical relationship, where the connection with the body and performance is present" in an era of fast, digital culture. Chiuri has also reflected on her career, saying she is "proud that I can work in a way that is really close with my values" and emphasizing the importance of community and collaboration, noting that "the future is collective creativity."
Transcript (11 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Narrator0:19
Hello, welcome to Channels Book Club. I'm Alhaji Kazim. Perhaps the most acclaimed Nigerian writer of our generation is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The talented and award-winning writer recently hosted a highly regarded fashion industry personality in Lagos, and we were there. We'll show you a report on that exciting event today. Later on, we'll also show you a reading by Halima Aliyu, who's inspiring young Nigerians like herself with her literary works, and an event where a new book written by a young Nigerian man with a passion to keep his contemporaries fighting and fired up despite many challenges was unveiled. Let's start with the Chimamanda Adichie story. Don't go away.
Who said literature and fashion don't mix? Well, certainly not Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and others. She recently held an event in Victoria Island, Lagos. Chimamanda brought together guests from various sectors of Nigeria to host Maria Grazia Chiuri. Maria is an Italian fashion designer and the Creative Director at Dior. She is the first woman to lead the creative side in the label's history. For some time now, Maria has referenced Chimamanda Adichie as a notable feminist in efforts to empower women. She put on a premier fashion show for Christian Dior in 2016 where she featured a t-shirt bearing the title of Chimamanda Adichie's essay, 'We Should All Be Feminists.' Her event in Lagos was designed to be fun.
The highlight was a conversation between Chimamanda and the special guest, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie3:13
Actually, I remember when I learned that you were the first woman. My first thought was, 'What's the deal? So long.' But I'm curious to know, and I think most people would want to know, what your experience has been like. Because you are the first woman, and it is remarkable, but it must also be about your own personal experience. What has it been like to be the first?
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Maria Chiuri3:39
To reflect about women and this product, the first point was to call you to write for you, and I thank you. All my life, I felt that you have to give your heart, because I think it was a very important point for me. Because we all speak about women when I write there, everybody said, 'Oh, Dior is a feminine brand, Dior is a feminine brand.' I say, 'Okay, but what does it mean to speak about femininity today?' It was like in my life, because I grew up in a family where it was really possible to have the same opportunity between me and my brother. But at the same time, I don't think that is the same everywhere and for everybody. So I think fashion has to give a strong message about that. And like women, I want to see the women with the eyes of the women, now with the eyes over the map, because I think that's the problem sometimes for the women that look themselves behind the man.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie4:54
So good men and women are misogynistic, and women often think that women cannot achieve things. And so we also need to rethink how we women think about women and what women's talents are. I think the burden is inside us, it comes from the past, and probably that's the message.
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Maria Chiuri5:07
And also to call to work with me all the women photographers around the world, because I don't want to give the point of view of only my point of view. Because in any case, I am Italian, I was born in Rome, my reference is Roman and Greek, so it's very specific and also European. So I think what I want to do is to share this big opportunity that I have with Dior with other women. And so I work a lot with the women photographers around the world that can see the women with their background and speak like we are all different, all unique, and all fantastic and enjoyable.
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Audience Member6:01
When I got the invitation, when I saw Dior, I went, 'Wow!' I like, 'Do you know, is it a building?' I know we have the creative director. This is somebody I read about, you know, back in the day, and I remembered her name from my mom's old collection of Vogue magazines. Like my mom had, even from the 1960s, my mom had, and I remembered her name. I said, 'She's coming to town.' First interest, I think, what I remember the Dior brand for will be during the youthquake when they really found the saddlebag and brought it back into presence. I have one. Okay, I'm digressing, guys. I'm obsessed with Dior. I'm a great collector. Now we have Chimamanda. I call her a monument to mankind. Chimamanda is unequaled, unparalleled, unrivaled. I saw her, I had a stroke moment, but then if I could get to have reached a way back with Wangari Maathai, I see her now like a daughter because she was part of our development, and she acknowledged that by writing the foreword to my autobiography. And also, I go everywhere with her, and especially when I'm invited, and it's just such a joy to be present at this occasion.
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Narrator7:34
But to see how growing, whoever wondered what a highly acclaimed writer was doing with fashion, most likely stopped wondering about the event. There is a lot of literature in fashion because when you look at movements and the creation and the personalities that come with it, she's picking up a lot from that. And if you read some of her works, you will see even music in her work, you will see a lot of fashion in her work. With the fact that she's lending a lot of her brand to the development of fashion in Nigeria, that alone is money combined.
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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie8:18
You know, it's who I am, and I think I was hiding it for a long time. But I am at a point where I no longer feel that I need to hide the different parts of myself. I mean, obviously, I'm first a writer. Literature is my first love, literature is where my heart is. But fashion matters to me, and I want to try. And because I'm now in a position where I can support this industry, I want to do it. And also, it's fun. I don't feel that it's a burden, you know. It's enjoyable.
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Narrator8:51
Chimamanda just never stops. What an inspiration she is to many people in Nigeria and other parts of the world.