Christian Dior- came from a quite healthy family, strong interest since early ages in art and fashion. Opened an art galler in between the two wars, 1920’s. Closed it, still kept good connections. In the 1930’s he started working as a fashion illustrator, then moved to fashion houses. Before that, he worked for Piquè. When liberated France became the capital of fashion, then in 1952 he had is great debut. Marcel Busak, wealth cotton manufacturer, wanted to restore the fashion capital, he was the man who changed Dior’s life. Started collaboration in 1946.
Tried to restore 1800’s woman, as the cafe society (vivienne westwood collection of 1994), harpers bazaar editor shocked at the beauty of the collection. Much smaller amount of people could afford dior than nowadays. 1948 opening of Dior on Fifth Avenue, as he had a lot of rich american clients. Reintroduction of the gapierre- kind of corset. Conical bras. Until Dior’s death in 1956, he was the leader of the classical 50’s look. He was the must of those years, while coco chanel was the must of the 20’s. Dior designed allo f the gowns in the 1950’s alfred Hitchcock movie, starring ditrick, who loved dior in the 50’s then moved back to chanel in the 60’s. Dior was copied from other compagnie for a different client, as they were much cheaper. The point of the approach wa the be unaccepted in society, to not only be unconventional. He reflected on the history of fashion. Roger vivier started dior’s shoe line, while other branches where also growing, like the perfuse and the lingerie. The cloche started to have more particularity, like heavy draping, or “zig.zag”, milleu de siede (the strapless dress), trump d’oeil, longue (hevy draping and complicated pattern, A, carchiotier. Dior tended to have this clean flare line, very proper. Dior was the first designer to appear on the times, two months later he died in Ponte Vecchio, Italy. The home of dior was taken charge by YSL. The fall winter 1957 was YSL’s first Dior collection. It is even more geometric, and it was criticized very well, it was a huge success. It was very cool at the time, as the change from the romanticism of the 50’s was radical. But YSL was too experimental for the Dior maison. Dior loved tradition and order, and YSl changed it completely trying to be “on the trend”. The clients wanted the prim and proper perspective, they wanted nothing to do with the youth culture and the changes. In 1962, YSL’s last collection at Dior, he introduced leather in it. That was unacceptable, and it was rejected, substituted by Bohan, Marc Bohan. He lasted for 30 years in Dior. He restored the old sumptuous and lady like patterns and pov. He brought back Dior to his original place, of the luxurious. This had a very good result for the critics and the clients. Bohan was never willing to innovate though, in the early 80’s the Dior woman became sexier. In the late 80’s, Gianfranco Ferrè took over. He was an architect, and provided stunning looks, sumptuous but voluminous and architectural. The restoration was almost complete: there where padded shoulders and colors and a lot of talllieurs. After ferrè, galliano took over, for another interpretation. He was exuberant, and a historicist, perfect for the Dior maison. He used cinematic references, cultural references, opera, the ballet, geographical (asia). His last collection, presented in January, was inspired by the Grant paintings of the 1940’s-1950’s. Dior also used, at his time, a lot of A line dresses.
