Christian Dior’s iconic femininity
The New Look
The company was founded in 1946 by designer Christian Dior. It currently designs and retails leather goods, fashion accessories, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, fragrance, makeup, and skin care products. It is part of LVMH Group.
Dior launched his first fashion collection, which went down in fashion history as the “New Look”. The New Look became extremely popular, its full-skirted silhouette influencing other fashion designers well into the 1950s, and Dior gained a number of prominent clients from Hollywood.
What is DIOR’s official website?
Visit official website
Why Christian Dior is the most influential fashion designer?
Christian Dior, the most influential fashion designer of the late 1940s and 1950s, influenced post-WWII fashion with the gorgeous silhouette of his voluptuous New Look.
In May 2019, Creative Director Kim Jones revealed concept sketches for South Korean artists. With the help of other creative directors such as Matthew Williams and Yoon Ahn (Dior’s jewelry director) they incorporated Dior’s iconic feminine, floral designs with industrial-like harnesses and chains.
How the Christian Dior success story started?
Christian Dior was born into a French bourgeois family. His industrial father wanted him to study politics. He entered a faculty of political science in 1923 to leave it in 1926, without a diploma.
In 1928, Christian Dior opened an art gallery to exhibit cubist painting and painters such as Salvador Dalí, Matisse, and Picasso.
In 1930, after the Great Depression, his father was ruined and his mother died. His childhood home in Normandy was sold to the municipality, which is now a museum dedicated to him.
In 1934, without any financial support, he was forced to liquidate the paintings in the art gallery for a modest sum. His apartment is seized.
For almost ten years, he lived only on the generosity of his friends and the sale of his sketches, revealing his talent as a designer. In 1935, he began sketching dresses and hats. He ended up being hired as an illustrator by a national newspaper, Le Figaro.
In 1938, he was hired as a model maker and designer by a great couturier Robert Piguet, who was called “the prince of fashion” at the time. He celebrated his first success in a black and white houndstooth suit after signing his first three collections. However, World War II broke out and he left Paris.
How did Christian Dior finally succeed?
In 1942, he returned to Paris and worked as an assistant stylist for Pierre Balmain and Lucien Lelon, one of the biggest fashion houses of his time.
By chance, he learns from his contacts that a cotton industrialist, Marcel Boussac was looking for a stylist to relaunch a fashion house he owns. In 1946, Christian Dior proposed he invests in the creation of a new fashion house, which bears his name: “Accept! Accept! You must create the Christian Dior house!“
However, it was difficult at first:
“There were times when I would be mentally torn apart from furnishing the house, recruiting staff, and creating models, and I would fall into a pile of fabrics in exhaustion.”
A year later, in 1947, Christian Dior rocked post-war fashion with the New Look, the iconic femininity!
More info about DIOR
What is Dior’s brand message?
Our House continually reinvents the unique heritage and savoir-faire created by Monsieur Dior. We are avid to share this dream with our customers around the world, the embodiment of Parisian haute couture, infused with the values of excellence, innovation and audacity.
Why is it called Dior?
The fashion house was founded in 1946 by French fashion designer Christian Dior (1905–1957).
Who currently owns Dior?
The fashion house Dior is managed and operated by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also runs LVMH.
Where to listen to Dior podcasts?
A.B.C. Dior invites you to a fascinating interlude that reveals the creative imagination of the house of Dior from 1947 to the present day.
Where to listen to Dior Common Thread?
The Dior Common Thread podcast series is an interesting new way to explore the collaboration Kim Jones began after joining Dior. Each episode offers a captivating encounter with one of his inspiring characters who participated in infinitely original reinventions.
- Simon Parris Discusses Creative Influences, Contemporary Culture and Growing Up with Kim Jones
- Stephen Jones on His Life Story and Making People Dream with Hats
- Eli Russell Linnetz Talks Getting a Masterclass in Running a Fashion House from Kim Jones
- Rare book specialist Sammy Jay discusses how he came to find himself in the world of men’s fashion
Where to listen to Dior talks?
Dior Talks is a series of podcasts aimed at connecting both those who shape the creative direction and those who influence its story artistically, culturally or intellectually.
- [Heritage] Maria Grazia Chiuri and Justine Picardie unpick the multilayered heritage of Dior to reveal some surprising synchronicities
- [Feminism] Justine Picardie talks to Dior’s very own Creative Director of Women’s collections Maria Grazia Chiuri & her daughter Rachele
- [Feminism] Felicity Jones talks about acting, gender politics and her rejection of all-male environments
- [Feminist Art] Katy Hessel talks to artist Eva Jospin, responsible for the huge embroidered work at the most recent haute couture show
Dior Geneve
Beverly Hills
London
Moscow
Milan
Dubai
Singapore
Hong Kong
Tokyo