Dior Partners With Louvre To Restore Tuileries Garden

After building a lush garden set for its last women’s runway show, Dior is bringing its green fingers to the Musée du Louvre. The French fashion house has signed a five-year partnership with the world-famous museum to help restore the Jardin des Tuileries, one of the largest and oldest public gardens in Paris. Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director of women’s wear, will show her fall ready-to-wear collection on Feb. 25 in a vast temporary structure built over the octagonal fountain near the park’s entrance on Place de la Concorde. The location is distinct from the Espace Éphémère des Tuileries, which traditionally hosts fashion shows and other events.

Dior will finance several major projects between 2020 and 2024, starting with the reopening of the wooded area to the northeast of the garden, home to 116 trees of four species. “This patronage brings home a message that is more vital now than ever. Each of us can be an agent of change for the ecosystems of tomorrow, whether natural or cultural,” said the house, which is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The initiative is part of Dior’s efforts to find solutions to preserve the environment and fight against climate change. Last season’s show set featured 164 trees that were subsequently replanted in four locations in and around the French capital. Created by Catherine de’ Medici in 1564, the Tuileries garden was famous for hosting lavish royal parties. It was redesigned by famed landscape architect André Le Nôtre under King Louis XIV, who later opened it to the public. After the French Revolution, it became a public park that now welcomes 14 million visitors a year.

Part of the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1991, the garden provides a link between the Louvre Museum and the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, and is home to more than 40 statues by renowned artists including Louise Bourgeois, Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore and Jean Dubuffet. Since 2005, it has been attached to the Louvre, which has launched a call for donations to restore the space, with projects such as reducing the water consumption of its fountains; restoring iron gates and sculptures, and bringing in new plants to help insects thrive.