Christian Dior

Christian Dior

The most influential designer of the fifties. When I attended the press launch of ‘The Golden Age Of Couture’  (Paris and London 1947 – 57) exhibition at the V&A museum, Claire Wilcox gave a talk about couture. Everything she said was fascinating but what stuck in my mind was the part about Dior’s launch of the ‘New Look’ in Paris 1947. Women were watching the ‘New Look’ styles, on the models Dior had encouraged to move like dancers (not the done thing at the time) wearing large quantities of luxury fabric, sloping shoulders, and a wasp-waisted silhouhette with widely flared skirts (Dior apparently used up to 50 yards of material). The women watching immediatly became conscious of their short and narrow skirts and were subtly pulling them down over their knees as the show progressed - they were conscious of being ‘out of fashion’.

The ‘New Look’ received a mixed reaction, shock, disapproval (rationing was still in place) and a deep longing. They were witnessing a revolution in fashion, a return to femininity and the end of the austerity of the war years. Dior said “I created flower women with gentle shoulders and generous bosoms, with tiny waists like stems and skirts belling out like petals”.  The absolute best piece from the ‘New Look’ collections for me is the ‘Bar Suit’.  (picture above) The jacket had a very narrow waist achieved by corsets (both separate and integral) and hip pockets adding width. The long pleated black skirt, wool, was extremely heavy and must have moved beautifully. 

Christian Dior (1905-1957) was born in Normandy, France. At his parents' insistence, he studied political science. (I have read he wanted to be an architect too) After military service and several years of indecision, he returned to Paris in 1935 and began his design career by selling sketches. His hat designs were initially more successful than his dress designs. But he concentrated on his dress designs and was hired by Robert Piguet in 1938. During the war, he served in the South of France, then returned again to Paris in 1941 and worked for Lucien Lelong and Pierre Balmain.  In 1946, he was able to open his own house, backed by textile manufacturer Marcel Boussac.

For his first collection in 1947, he created the extremely popular "New Look", which featured rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and a very full skirt. Dior created an opulent clothing style which contrasted the severe living conditions of post-war France. After the war, he helped to re-establish Paris as the capital of world-fashion . Dior became the last great dictator of style in the 1950s. ( Each collection throughout this period had a theme - classic suits, ballerina-length skirts, the H-line in 1954, and A- and Y-lines in 1955.)

Together with his partner Jaques Rouet, Dior was the pioneer for license agreements in the fashion business. Already in 1948, he decided to arrange licensed production of furs, socks, ties, perfumes, and clothing in regionally seperate production centers. Thus spreading the brand name quickly around the globe. In 1953, he hired Yves Saint Laurent as an assistant. After Dior's sudden death in October 1957 in Italy, Saint Laurent became head designer and introduced the trapeze dress in his first collection for the house. When Saint Laurent was called for military duty in 1960, Marc Bohan took over, remaining until Gianfranco Ferre became designer in 1989. Ferre was replaced at the end of 1996 by John Galliano.