Maria Grazia Chiuri's Christian Dior collection was inspired by her daughter.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli

The fashion designer - who was announced as the creative director of the French fashion house in July last year - believes the creations under the prestigious brand are feminine and "steeped in the Fifties", but she wants to take the label down a "more contemporary" path and looks to her child, Rachele, her friends and their lifestyle to help influence her collections.

Speaking about her muse to Vogue magazine, the creative mastermind - who also has son Nicolo with her partner Paolo Regini - said: "Of course our heritage is important, but I also want to move this house forward. My vision is something that is easier to wear. I want to think of women and how they dress, how they mix high and low, so you can have a Bar jacket but with jeans, a beautiful dress but with a leather jacket.

"Dior stands for femininity but the idea of that is still steeped in the Fifties. Femininity isn't something that finished in the Fifties; it can be more contemporary. My reference is a modern woman and my role has to be to understand women of the future. I am not that, I'm the woman of now, and so I look at my daughter a lot; what she wears and what her friends wear, her lifestyle, and how she thinks."

And the star - who worked alongside Pierpaolo Piccioli when she was at Valentino for 17 years before departing in 2016 - has admitted she was "born" to be an accessories designer because she is "obsessed" with the designs.

She said: "I was born an accessory designer, I love accessories. I obsess over them. I really obsess."

However, Maria has admitted being at the helm of a fashion house and coming up with innovative designs for Fashion Week, is "very hard".

Maria explained: "In any case, this job is very hard. You can do it alone or with two, three or 10 others, there's not much difference. Yes, you can share a little bit but it doesn't mean it's easier. It doesn't matter how many people there are, the game is the same and everyone has to work hard."