Christian Dior (1905-1957)

photo/ Yousuf Karsh, 1954

Christian Dior was born on the 21st of January 1905 in Granville, Normandy. He came from a wealthy bourgeoise family who owned a fertilizer factory and had four siblings. It is the magnificent garden at his family house in Granville that would become an inspiration for Christian Dior's designs.

"My childhood home... I remember it with great affection and wonder.

What am I saying? My life, my style, they owe nearly everything to it's location and architecture."
Christian Dior/

Christian Dior/

photo/ his family house in Granville, now a museum

During the first 10 years of the House of Dior, more than 50 designs were given the names of roses,

while entire collections have been odes to flowers.

Some years later, during a sensational time in art history, his family moved to Paris. These were the last years of Belle Epoque and the beginning of Modernism. Young DIor was hugely influenced by Matisse, Picasso, Braque, Le Corbusier, Boucher, Frango and Jean Cocteau. Even though there was no doubt he was fascinated by art, in 1923, he was forced by his father to attend the University of Sciences Politique. Five years later, he dropped out to open a little gallery dealing in modern art. His father's only wish was not to put the name "Dior" above the door. During the Great Depression the family factory went bankrupted and, sadly, the gallery was forced to close.

"What a hectic life!",

Christian Dior on his early life in Paris/

In 1938 he had a date with destiny; a failed interview for an office position with Lucien Lelong cultivated the idea of him engaging in the world of fashion. That is when he became a freelance fashion designer and illustrator, selling sketches to magazines. Christian Dior's first job as a fashion designer was at the house of Robert Piguet.

From 1940 to 1942 he was called up for military service. Upon his return to Occupied Paris he was the new assistant designer alongside Pierre Balmain at the fashion house of Lucien Lelong. During the Second World War many Paris fashion houses closed down or moved to America. Under the Nazi plan the Paris ateliers would be moved to Germany or Austria, where they would train a new generation of German dressmakers. It was Lelong, as the president of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, who convinced them to back down. Parisian haute couture suffered much, but started to work again when Paris was liberated in June of 1944.

illustration/ the first advertisement of Dior House for Miss Dior perfume, René Gruau, 1947

In 1947 Christian Dior named his first perfume "Miss Dior" in honour of his sister, Catherine, who served in the French Resistance and was captured and incarnated by Gestapo during the Second World War. She was liberated in 1945.

On the 16th of December 1946 "Christian Dior Ltd" was founded on 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris.

Dior held legal leadership, a non-controlling stake in the firm, and one-third of pretax profits in addition to his salary.

Victor Grandpierre designed the Louis XVI-style interior and Jacques Rouët was appointed financial manager.

One of the most influential fashion designers of the twentieth century, Christian Dior revolutionized the industry in 1947 with his first collection, the "Corolle", also known as the "New Look".

The elements of the astonishing "New Look" were the fitted shoulders, a fully formed bosom, a narrow waist, an enormous full skirt, below knees hemline, sheer stockings and high heeled pointy shoes. It actually reinstated the post war feminine silhouette. At that period of time, the extravagant use of fabric and ornaments were shocking to the public, yet, fascinating, according to fashion critics. The market was dazzled.

Soon, Dior's name became synonymous to luxury, taste and high craftsmanship.

Over the following years, Dior kept enchanting the crowds. Despite the enormous prices, every new collection was an instant commercial and critical success.

Dior's dresses had a clear line, almost each collection introduced a new silhouette; he created the "Corolle" line (1947), the "ZigZag" line (1948), the "Oblique" and "Vertical" lines (1950), the "Oval" and "Long" lines (1951), the "Sinuous" and "Profile" lines (1952), the "A" line and the "H" line (1955), the Y line (1956), the "Libre" and "Spindle" lines (1957).

His designs were always inspired by his passion for gardens and artists like Boucher, Fragorard, Ingres, Renoir, Matisse, Bonnard, Cezanne and Picasso.

"[...] as if each of my dresses, one by one, emerged from a perfume bottle."
Christian Dior/

Even though feminists protested against his designs, Dior set the prevailing shape of the 1950s. Beyond any doubt, he reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after the Second World War. In 1950 Christian Dior was awarded the Légion d’Honneur by the Ministry of Trade and Commerce in recognition of his contribution. His memoirs, "Je suis Couturier" were published one year later.
With fashion houses like Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain, Fath, Worth and Chanel operating in Paris, the late forties and the 1950s are often mentioned as "The Golden Age of Haute Couture".

"Haute couture is like an orchestra. whose conductor is Balenciaga. We other couturiers are the musicians and we follow the direction he gives."
Christian Dior/

photo/ Christian Dior on TIME magazine's cover, March 4, 1957

"France: Dictator by Demand” was the name of that cover story.

By 1957, Christian Dior had created a fashion empire with more than 1.200 employees, boutiques in 24 different countries and an estimated turnover of $20 million annually. The House of Dior organized licence agreements to manufacture perfume, hats, gloves, furs, scarves, corsetry, knitwear, hosiery, lingerie, jewelry, handbags and shoes. His autobiography, "Christian Dior et Moi", was published in 1957.

Not only was he highly innovative, Dior was also methodical and cautious. As he was middle-aged when he achieved fame, nothing was left to chance; he took his excellency to the edge. Even though Christian Dior had high standards for himself as well as his employees, he was always humble, gentle and sensitive.

"[Dior was] always aware when a costumer had complained about a dress not fitting, when a buyer complained about a price, when a fashion magazine photographed too many models that they didn't print, when a mannequin had a broken heart, and exactly how many models his best costumers ordered."
"[Dior's publicity department was] the most obliging in Paris, making possible for pictures of Dior clothes to be the best and the most plentiful in the press."
Bettina Ballard, 1940s chief fashion editor of American Vogue/

Dior remained influential until his sudden death of heart attack, at age 52, in Italy, on October 23 1957. In his ten years as a couturier, Christian Dior's creativity and commerce shocked the fashion industry and established the fundamentals of fashion design and the fashion business in general. Dior was an exceptional designer and a dazzling businessman, too.

"An established lion, he is also a generous lion, quick to praise others, warm to young newcomers in the couture, and quite blatantly adored by his couture staff, his household, and the great range of friends who come, in cheerful clutches to his salon and his house."
American Vogue, March 1957/

Would fashion had evolved differently, if Christian Dior had been around further more?

"I think of this house now as my real home, the home to which, God willing, I will one day retire, the home where perhaps I will one day forget Christian Dior and become the neglected private individual again."
Christian Dior/

A few years later, in 1946, thanks to a lucky omen, a gilt star he found lying on the ground, Christian Dior had another date with destiny; he made an appointment with Marcel Boussac, a textile magnate, known as France’s “King Cotton”. Then, "the shy Dior from Normandy transformed into the other Dior, a couturier of unmatched confidence who had waited long enough to be his own master" (Sinclair 2012). Boussac, finally, agreed to finance Christian Dior's "dream" fashion house.