Maria Grazia Chiuri to be honoured at the Fashion Awards 2017

Ir's been a good year for the Dior creative director

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Rex)
Penny Goldstone
By Penny Goldstone
published

Ir's been a good year for the Dior creative director

It's a little while yet until the Fashion Awards 2017 on Monday 4th December, but we've just had a little taster of who is already #winning. The British Fashion Council and Swarovski today announced that Maria Grazia Chiuri will receive the Swarovski Award for Positive Change, at the event which will be held at the Royal Albert Hall.

It's been a strong year for Dior's creative director, who presented two successful collection at Paris Fashion Week. Since her appointment in July 2016, she's really shaken things up at Dior, and in particular has brought a powerful feminist message to the catwalk.

Who can forget her use of Linda Nochlin’s battle-cry, 'Why have there been no great women artists?' on t-shirts as part of her SS18 collection?

So it makes sense that the award recognises her contribution to women’s empowerment in the fashion industry, especially given that 2017 has arguably been the year of female empowerment, starting with the International Women's March, and ending with the #MeToo movement after the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Maria Grazia Chiuri

She's the second person to receive this accolade, which was presented to the late Franca Sozzani, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Italy, for her positive impact on society.

Following the announcement, Maria Grazia Chiuri commented, 'I am delighted and very honoured to receive the Swarovski Award for Positive Change. The feminist movement that has been mine for the longest time has finally struck a resonant chord in society, and this recognition sends a powerful message to all women battling on a daily basis. It also offers a timely opportunity to pay tribute to Franca Sozzani who, last year, was the recipient of the very first award.'

Dame Natalie Massenet, British Fashion Council chairman, added, 'With this award Maria Grazia will be celebrated for her successful creative achievements, her contribution to female empowerment within fashion and her determination to encourage women of future generations to believe in themselves. The positive impact she has had on the fashion and global communities makes her a great inspiration to all of us.'

We couldn't agree more.

Penny Goldstone
Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.

Latest