Christian Ernest Dior (21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained prominence "on five continents in only a decade."[2]
Dior's skills led to his employment and design for various fashion icons in attempts to preserve the fashion industry during World War II. After the war, he founded and established the Dior fashion house, with his collection of the "New Look". In 1947, the collection debuted featuring rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and very full skirt. The New Look celebrated ultra-femininity and opulence in women's fashion.
Throughout his lifetime, and after his death, he won numerous awards for Best Costume Design.
Early life
Dior was born in Granville, a seaside town on the coast of Normandy, France. He was the second of five children born to Maurice Dior, a wealthy fertilizer manufacturer (the family firm was Dior Frères), and his wife, formerly Madeleine Martin. He had four siblings: Raymond (father of Françoise Dior), Jacqueline, Bernard, and Catherine Dior.[3] When Christian was about five years old, the family moved to Paris.[4]
Dior's family had hoped he would become a diplomat, but Dior was interested in art.[5] To make money, he sold his fashion sketches outside his house for about 10 cents each (US$0 in dollars). In 1928, he left school and received money from his father to finance a small art gallery, where he and a friend sold art by the likes of Pablo Picasso. Alongside managing his art gallery, Dior cultivated friendships with influential artists, including Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, and Alberto Giacometti. Immersed in this creative environment, Dior drew inspiration from their work, which shaped his later approach in fashion design.[6] The gallery closed three years later, following the deaths of Dior's mother and brother, as well as financial trouble during the Great Depression that resulted in his father losing control of the family business.[7] Dior had no choice but to find another source of income.[8]
In search of work, Dior again created and sold fashion sketches. Those sketches were discovered by fashion designer Robert Piguet.[8] From 1937, Dior was employed by Piguet, who gave him the opportunity to design for three collections.[9][10] Dior later said that "Robert Piguet taught me the virtues of simplicity through which true elegance must come."[11][12] One of his original designs for Piguet, a day dress with a short, full skirt that was in his collection called "Cafe Anglais", was particularly well received.[9][10] Whilst working for Piguet, Dior worked alongside Pierre Balmain, and was succeeded as house designer by Marc Bohan
In 1942, when Dior left the army, he joined the fashion house of Lucien Lelong, where he and Balmain were the primary designers. For the duration of World War II, Dior, as an employee of Lelong, designed dresses for the wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators, as did other fashion houses that remained in business during the war, including Jean Patou, Jeanne Lanvin, and Nina Ricci.[13][14] His sister, Catherine (1917–2008), a member of the French Resistance, was captured by the Gestapo and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she was incarcerated until her liberation in May 1945.[15] In 1947, Dior named his debut fragrance Miss Dior in tribute to her.[16][17]
Dior was known for being superstitious. He often consulted his astrologer before making decisions, and his collections frequently featured talismanic symbols. He also carried a cluster of lucky charms with him, believing they brought him good fortune.[18] At a pivotal moment when industrialist Marcel Boussac offered six million francs to establish Maison Christian Dior, Dior accepted only after receiving approval from two separate clairvoyants.[19]
The Dior fashion house
In 1946, Marcel Boussac, a successful entrepreneur, invited Dior to design for Philippe et Gaston, a Paris fashion house launched in 1925.[20] Dior refused, wishing to make a fresh start under his own name rather than reviving an old brand.[21] In 1946, with Boussac's backing, Dior founded his fashion house, ensuring exclusive control over the company and securing a third of all profits in addition to his salary.[19] The name of the line of his first collection, presented on 12 February 1947,[22] was Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English). Dior's debut collection included a launch of 90 garments displayed in outfits. The phrase New Look was coined for it by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar.[4]
Death
Dior died of a third heart attack while on vacation in Montecatini, Italy, on 24 October 1957 in the late afternoon while playing a game of cards.[111][112] He was survived by Jacques Benita, a North African singer three decades his junior, the last of a number of discreet male lovers.[113][114][115]
Awards and honors
Dior was awarded the French Legion of Honor in 1950. Dior was nominated for the 1955 Academy Award for Best Costume Design in black and white for the Terminal Station directed by Vittorio De Sica (1953). The design house of Christian Dior, represented by designer Yves St. Laurent, was nominated in 1967 for a BAFTA for Best British Costume (Colour) for Arabesque directed by Stanley Donen (1966).[116] For the 11th César Awards in 1986, Dior, represented by Marc Bohan who created costumes from Christian Dior's original designs, was nominated for Best Costume Design (Meilleurs costumes) for the 1985 film Bras de fer.[117]
See also
- Château de La Colle Noire
Further reading
- Charleston, Beth Duncuff (October 2004). "Christian Dior (1905–1957)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Based on original work by Harold Koda.
- Dior, Christian (1957). Christian Dior and I. New York: Dutton.
- Garcia-Moreau, Guillaume, Le château de La Colle Noire, un art de vivre en Provence, Dior, 2018. Read online
- Martin, Richard; Koda, Harold (1996). Christian Dior. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-822-5.
External links
- Photos of Dior and Samples of New Look Fashion (archived 13 October 2007)
- Documentary film Christian Dior, The Man Behind The Myth (archived 6 October 2008)
- Christian Dior at Chicago History Museum Digital Collections.
References
- Elodie Nowinski. Christian Dior: A Passion for Beauty Sciences Po, 10 August 2015, retrieved 18 February 2024^
- The History of the House of Dior 20 November 2018^
- Pochna, M-F. (1996). Christian Dior: The Man Who Made the World Look New p. 5, Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-340-7.^