UBS House of Craft X Dior in Singapore
Curated by Carine Roitfeld, exhibition by Brigitte Niedermair
Installation view of UBS House of Craft X Dior in Singapore. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
UBS House of Craft X Dior will be open to the public in Singapore this Friday, 21 November 2025 for three days. Following the first iteration in New York earlier in June, this is the exhibition’s Asian debut. It is curated by Carine Roitfeld, and conceived by artist and photographer Brigitte Niedermair.
A photograph from the UBS House of Craft X Dior exhibition. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
Behind the scenes for UBS House of Craft X Dior. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
The exhibition traces Dior’s evolution through its founder and past creative directors: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, who each have a dedicated room. There is also a special tribute to Kim Jones, Artistic Director, Dior Men from 2018 to 2025. Archival haute couture pieces are shown alongside an extended series of photographs featuring the same pieces. In addition to audiovisual footage, there are sketches and more on display, for visitors to understand the work behind the scenes.
On display is documentation of an intricately embroidered dress called Nuit de Singapour, or Night of Singapore by Saint Laurent, who had taken over from Dior when he was just shy of 20 years old. While Saint Laurent did not visit, he was inspired by the idea of Singapore for the dress.
Among other show-stoppers, there is the Lady Dior bag, created in 1989 by Gianfranco Ferré at the request of Bernadette Chirac, then the First Lady of France, to gift to Princess Diana at an exhibition of Paul Cézanne’s works at the Grand Palais. She subsequently carried the bag often, and the house officially named it Lady Dior.
Lady Dior has since become an iconic bag for the house. The Dior Lady Art project, where Dior has invited leading international artists to reinterpret the iconic Lady Dior bag, blending heritage with contemporary vision, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
A photograph from the UBS House of Craft X Dior exhibition. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
In the last room of the exhibition, there are live demonstrations by Marie Leroux, Première main Atelier Flou and Yassin Kavak, Première main Atelier Tailleur. Premiere main translates to First hand, and Leroux is the senior seamstress and Kavak the senior tailor in the respective ateliers. The atelier flou is dedicated to the craft of making dresses using soft fabrics, while the atelier tailleur is focused on the more structured outfits, which require a different set of skills.
Brigitte Niedermair and Carine Roitfeld. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
Over the weekend, a series of talks will reveal more about the work behind the exhibition, the archive as well as in the ateliers. On Saturday, Payal Uttam will moderate a talk titled “From Curation to Creation” with Roitfeld and Niedermair about their collaboration for UBS House of Craft X Dior. This is followed by “Framing Fashion: Brigitte Niedermair on Couture and Culture”, which will uncover how fashion photography is practised by the artist and photographer, in conversation with Tan Siuli.
Behind the scenes for UBS House of Craft X Dior. Image courtesy of UBS House of Craft X Dior.
On Sunday, Fashion & Market Managing Editor Nadya Wang will moderate two talks in the afternoon. The first, “Inside Dior Heritage” is with Perrine Scherrer, Director, Dior Heritage. Dior Heritage was established in 1987, following an exhibition, Hommage à Christian Dior, held for the house’s 40th anniversary at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The talk will reveal more about what is in the archive, how it is maintained, and how it will continue to grow. The second talk, “The Craft of Couture”, with Leroux and Kavak, will reveal more about the making of couture, and they will speak about the techniques, traditions, and innovations that define craftsmanship at Dior.
UBS House of Craft is open to the public from 21 to 23 November 2025, at New Art Museum, part of Whitestone Gallery, at Tanjong Pagar Distripark. To register for the exhibition and for the talks, visit the UBS House of Craft X Dior website here.