Dior
(1905 - 1957)
The French couturier Christian Dior was born in Granville, France; a fashionable seaside resort in 1905. The family moved to Paris in 1911. Dior registered at the Ecole de Sciences Politiques in Paris.
He met various writers, painters, and musicians befriending, among others,Pierre Gaxotte, Maurice Sachs, Jean Ozenne and his cousin Christian Berard, Max Jacob, and Henri Sauguet.In 1927, after his military service and with his father’s support, he opened an art gallery at 34, rue de la Boetie, with the name of his associate, Jacques Bonjean. The gallery exhibited the works of such contemporary artists as Giorgio de Chirico, Maurice Utrillo, Salvador Dali, Raoul Dufy, Marie Laurencin, Fernand Leger, Jean Lucat, Pablo Picasso, Ossip Zadkine, Georges Braque, and Aristide Maillol.
After the War, Marcel Boussac, president of the cotton-marketing syndicate, offers to finance Dior’s own couture house. At the age of forty-two he presents his first collection “Corolle Line,” which was named by the press “The New Look,” and achieved insurmountable success. The collection was accompanied by the launch of his first perfume, Miss Dior. His “New Look” creations were a composition of rounded shoulders, shapely emphasis of the bust, cinched waists, and curvaceous bell-shaped skirts in luxurious fabrics. In 1947 Dior received the Neiman Marcus Award. The following year, he set up the subsidiary Christian Dior New York, Inc., and branches were set up in Caracas, Australia, Chile, Mexico and Cuba. The “New Look” was Christian Dior’s passport to the American market. During the 50s, the House of Dior was alone responsible for half of all Paris’s couture export to the United States.
Christian Dior’s costume jewelry and other accessories were selected to complement his fashions. Their production was limited. Dior was the first designer to use Aurora Borealis rhinestones. Unlike many other fashion designers at the time, Dior gave painstaking attention to detail in his jewelry, making it clear that these accessories were not a mere afterthought. They were a major, essential aspect of his collections, to be taken as seriously as the lavish clothes he designed. Dior’s affinity with the French countryside was evident in his jewelry collections, which featured many pieces inspired by wild roses and lily of the valley flowers. Figural designs of animals were also a recurring theme.
All of Dior’s jewelry pieces were signed and dated. There are a number of designers who have made collections for Dior over a small period of time. Mitchell Maer held the jewelry license for Dior jewelry from 1950 to 1957; in the United States Kramer of New York held the jewelry license from 1950 to 1957; and also Henkel and Grosse, Josette Gripoix, and Kramer. In particular, Mitchell Maer pieces, designed between 1952 and 1956 are highly sought after. Dior’s costume jewelry was signed Christian Dior inside an oval.
In 1948 the Christian Dior perfume company was set up; it launched Diorama; in 1949, followed by Eau Fraiche (1953), and Diorissimo (1956). His future collections unveiled the finest tailoring and the most sumptuous fabrics: satins, traditional suiting, fine wools, taffetas, and lavish embroideries. His creations were frequently distinguished by ornaments that came directly from pre 1914 fashion.
Christian Dior is considered one of the most famous fashion designers of both the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1957, Dior died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two in Bagni de Montecatini, Italy. After his death, Marcel Boussac, Dior’s partner appointed Ives Saint Laurent as artistic director, he was followed by Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre, and John Galliano; who has reinvigorated the house of Dior and once again brought renown to the Dior name.
