What’s Happening: Dior’s pre-fall show in Mumbai may seem like just another fashion-world spectacle. In reality, the elaborate presentation was 25 years in the making and kicked off a season-long showcase of India’s unsung prowess in global fashion.

The Download: Even in the race to stage the most dramatic post-pandemic destination fashion show, Dior’s recent 99-look pre-fall extravaganza in Mumbai stands out. Gucci has taken to Seoul, Chanel to Dakar, and Dior Men to Giza, but there’s more than meets the eye with the French maison’s Indian debut. The runway show forms only one part of the label’s larger cultural celebration of Indian craft, fostered by a 25-year working relationship between Karishma Swali, artistic director of the country’s revered Chanakya textile ateliers, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, who has highlighted the crucial role artisans have played throughout her stewardship of the brand’s womenswear.

Since taking the reins in 2016, Chiuri has collaborated closely with both the atelier and its affiliated textile arts school for women. Their embroidery adorned much of the new collection. Take the intricate beading on a champagne-hued lace skirt, peeking out from below an oversized shirtdress and daycoat. A closer look at the meticulously tailored coat reveals golden brocade embroidery, depicting a lush, botanic scene. A coordinated skirt and handbag pairing shows an intricate nature scene featuring an elephant, tiger, and tree snake interacting with the beaded world around them.

Their work also adorned a 46-foot-tall toran hanging above the runway at Mumbai’s Gateway of India monument. The giant piece that so captivated show-goers was in fact public art commissioned from the Chanakya atelier and school; more than 300 master artisans dedicated 35,000 hours of handiwork to its depictions of folk iconography including elephants, lotus flowers, and peacocks. Its unveiling marked the beginning of a season-long showcase of textile craft organized by Dior and Chanakya.

Over the weekend, the atelier and school threw open its doors to the public for the first time for a three-part exhibition of 300 archival textiles, antiquities, and live demonstrations of skilled disciplines at the hands of master artisans. The show’s cornerstone, however, is an exclusive retrospective of Chanakya artisanry as seen through 50 collections of Dior couture and ready-to-wear. The display of garments created by the artisans are accompanied by miniature prototypes from the concepting process, 19th- and 20th-century garments that inspired the craft techniques seen on each Dior creation, and antiquities such as deity statues and silver relics that reveal the symbolism behind the craftsmanship.

The two companies also worked with the Asia Society India Center to organize “Mūḷ Māthī; From The Roots,” a month-long showcase of large-scale paintings and textile art inspired by the set of Dior’s Spring/Summer 2022 haute couture runway show at the Musée Rodin. First created as paintings by contemporary artists Madhvi and Manu Parekh and reinterpreted by Chanakya artisans as textile art, the exhibition exemplifies the extent to which Chiuri has inextricably bound Dior’s identity and the country’s standout creatives.

In Their Own Words: “Fashion is much more than 10 minutes on the runway. It’s all the people that work together at this incredible project,” Chiuri told Business of Fashion. “I am doing this show for love of this country, and how much they support my creativity. It is really very personal.”

Surface Says: There are plenty of reprimands to be doled out for clout-chasing but Dior’s three-decade relationship with Indian craftspeople transcends the internet noisemaking.

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How could a $6,000 grant change the course of a photographer’s career? Multiply that by 30 to get an idea of the impact that the Creator Labs Photo Fund could have on up-and-coming photographers like Naomieh Jovin. Today, photo fund benefactors Google Pixel and Aperture have opened a nationwide open call for applicants to the second season of artist grants.

Surface’s New York City readers are invited to a celebratory panel organized by Creator Labs, Aperture, and SN37, featuring past recipients Adraint Bereal, Daveed Baptiste, and Sydney Mieko King. Moderators Nicole Acheampong and Brendan Embser will guide a conversation about the artists’ practices, recent work, and editorial collaborations, illustrating the impact of support and funding for rising artists.

In the sun-soaked courtyard of a historic Little River home sits Rosie’s, one of the Miami culinary scene’s most captivating and unlikely stories. Helmed by Noma alum Akino West and his wife Jamila Ross, the outdoor-only brunch spot started as a pop-up in Overtown and quickly gained a cult following for its unique fusion of Southern American and Italian cooking. The menu celebrates the comforting dishes West grew up on in South Florida, including lemon ricotta pancakes, fish and grits, and pastrami hash. The must-try Chicky Sandwich, featuring buttermilk fried chicken on a brioche bun smothered in lemon aioli, is foodie royalty.

Inspired by their African American heritage and memories of their grandmothers' home-cooked meals, West and Ross have dreamed up a menu that melds their upbringing with West’s passion for Italian cuisine. Having started his culinary journey with high school competitions, West would go on to learn from two superstar chefs. Under the mentorship of renowned chef Michael Schwartz, he refined his craft and eventually embarked on an internship at Noma, the renowned Danish restaurant led by René Redzepi.

“I believe that leading with curiosity takes you places,” Eny Lee Parker says. That mantra has served her well—since captivating the industry with her puffy neotenic lamps, the Queens designer has pushed the boundaries of ceramic lights, wielding kilns like an artist with an unencumbered brush. Now she’s reimagining some of her most recognizable motifs in the form of whimsical yet sophisticated furniture thanks to a new collaboration with California retailer Lulu and Georgia that upholds her philosophy of finding balance in unexpected forces.

Intended to infuse interiors with verve and versatility, the 22-piece collection spans tables, cabinets, seating, drinkware, dinnerware, and vases inspired by how the Silk Road bridged diverse cultures. Clear standouts are the foamy June Bench and Ottomans, which float like cumulus clouds wherever they’re perched. Pair them with the statement Solana sofa, a corner sectional designed to anchor a social lounge while not commanding too much attention. That’s always been the power of Parker’s finest work—subtle gestures that leave an impression and forge a sense of harmony no matter the setting.

When: Until June 4

Where: The Stallery, Hong Kong

What: Across a series of sculptures and silkscreen works on Perspex, the Chinese-American artist juxtaposes pop culture icons and luxury brands against barren Martian landscapes to explore themes of deep space habitation and escaping from reality. He presents a dystopian yet harmonic view of a future where consumerism and virtual realities have taken over outer space—not just in the gallery, which he sheathed entirely in a reflective deep-space material, but on his vibrant canvases, which provoke thoughts on escape and consumerism.

In 1961, Ellen Stewart was an accomplished dress designer—the first African American designer at Saks Fifth Avenue—when her playwright half-brother needed a place to stage his work. She had a vision: transforming an East Village basement apartment into a theater devoted to the experimental and new. That vision became La MaMa, a central hub for the avant-garde that launched work by the likes of Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Taylor Mac, Julie Taymor, and thousands more—and also changed the geography of performance itself, conceiving of and nurturing the Off-Off-Broadway scene.

Eight years later, La MaMa found its first permanent home in a building already more than a century old. It made the rough-and-ready cast-iron structure a place for early iterations of Harvey Fierstein’s iconic Torch Song Trilogy and for staging grounds for actors and performers including Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Bette Milder. But after some 3,000 performances and the turn of the millennium, the building was in desperate need of repair. In 2015, the theater brought in Beyer Blinder Belle, who demonstrated its historic preservation chops in spaces like the Apollo and the city of Antwerp. The firm in term cast accomplished co-stars as theater consultant Jean-Guy Lecat and acoustic consultant Charcoalblue.

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Wolf-Gordon is an American design brand dedicated to enabling the creation of outstanding interiors. Founded in 1967 as a wallcovering resource, the high-performing product line now includes upholstery textiles, RAMPART wall protection, and Wink dry-erase surfaces.

Surface Says: The level of artistry and craftsmanship that Wolf-Gordon brings to every textile is remarkable for a machine-made fabric. Its artist collaborations, including Aliki van der Kruijs, Mae Engelgeer, and Frank Tjepkema, bring mastery to each bespoke design.

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