Savoir-Faire of the Diorever Bag

The House’s new bag is timeless down to its very name: Diorever, a Dior that’s forever, for every day. Like a small-scale work of architecture, it was in development for over nine months and its production requires more than a day of work. And with good reason: its structured curves, its reversible flap, its metallic clasp, and its often contrasting colors and materials mean that it necessitates the highest savoir-faire in leatherworking.

And here, in the Florentine hinterland, is where it’s made by hand. Everything starts with the choice of skins, and the selection process is highly exacting. The leather has to be deemed flawless in order for it to be cut with a sharp blade following the cardboard patterns for the bag’s forty-seven elements.

On the body of the Diorever the artisan will need to make some of the openings for the thirty-two metallic accessories the bag boasts. Using a round-headed hammer, he taps the skin with an iron punch the exact measurements of the crest-shaped clasp, and then with a circular one to perforate holes for the six visible magnets that will grace the bag’s front, back and flap. This allows for color contrasts, since each magnet will be covered in leather before being sewn between the two thicknesses.

Since the interior is just as important as the exterior, several reinforcements are placed at the points of greatest stress and use. The sides of the Diorever are then placed on a wooden form that has been scaled to correspond to the three sizes of bag and the specifications of the various materials. From precious skins to the more classic ones, along with the most innovative, too, each has its own form, because each behaves differently and doesn’t wrap around the wooden curves in the same way. And so the artisan shapes and works the leather in the manner of a couturier sculpting a fold or a drape in fabric on a mannequin.

Next is the mounting of the three internal pockets, which are first glued then sewn by machine, the same with the handles, their foundations visible on the front of the bag. This aesthetic choice turns a spotlight on the elements of construction that play a part in the beauty of the item as a whole. Like a couture signature, the name «Christian Dior« is embossed on a silver ribbon.

Next, the artisan positions the large rear pocket and the remaining metal pieces – press studs, feet, buckles and strap attachments. The interior and exterior parts of the bag are now sewn together by machine for greater precision. Lastly, the artisan sews six saddle stitches on the bag by hand. The Diorever is now finished and a testament to the perpetuity of the House’s leatherworking savoir-faire.