How did a group of very busy, very important lawyers find out about the existence of Gigi Dior – the self-proclaimed “super MILF” of OnlyFans? No doubt alerted to the site by a devotee of Monsieur Dior, it’s proved quite a distressing discovery for the 75-year-old maison. So much so, in fact, that its boardroom has urged Mademoiselle Dior to drop the stage name with immediate effect, filing a cease and desist order in October. “This is ridiculous, my name has nothing to do with couture and the funny part is what I do usually involves wearing no clothes at all,” she said in response to the lawsuit, which claims she is sullying the brand.
The actor and model officially trademarked her name in September but now has until November 17 to present a written response to the label’s lawyers, who are maintaining that her alias is damaging the reputation of Christian Dior – a “dilution by blurring and dilution by tarnishment,” as its statement reads. Even despite fashion’s lean into pornography – think Pornhub’s recent collaborations with Shayne Oliver and Ludovic de Saint Sernin or Chloe Cherry’s front row appearances – this sort of pearl-clutching is symptomatic of the moral panic surrounding sex work… which is especially ironic given that John Galliano’s tenure at the house drew heavily on vintage cartoons of bawdy Parisian prostitutes.
Gigi Dior’s choice of name also compounds a longer tradition of ostracised people adopting luxury monikers. In ballroom culture, for example, houses are almost always named after high fashion brands – among them Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Mugler – in an attempt to access the kind of prestige usually ascribed to the bourgeoisie. A cursory Google search will bring up the names of other porn stars like Frank Versace, Sofia Prada, Drew Valentino, and Chanel Preston, which, much like Gucci Mane or Aaron Cartier, actively contributes to each brand’s lore. Clearly, Dior would rather be associated with Mrs Harris Goes to Paris than it would Horny Hiking – which is not a fashion film, per se, but still keys into all the desire that a hauty maison harbours.