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In this edition of the series Vladimir Zhamkin takes a
look at the life’s work of one the most important and innovative
fashion designers of the 20th century, Christian Dior.
The first collection of the Paris-based House of Dior shown
in February 1947 was a spectacular success revolutionizing the world of
high fashion - a complete contrast to the austere utility fashions that
had prevailed during and after the Second World War. Dubbed as The New
Look by the English-speaking journalists attending the defile, the style’s
narrow shoulders, clinched waists, bell-skirts, elegantly pointed shoes
and wide-brimmed hats made the woman look like a flower. After the
show, the 42 year-old Christian Dior became a celebrity in just overnight.
In fact, he had been preparing his triumph for a long 12 years drawing
new models, painstakingly designing office interiors and selecting his
staff. Being an ardent horticulturist and a great fan of flowers,
he was particularly well heeled in biological forms, a penchant that explained
his profound understanding of the natural elegance of the lines, always
so tasteful and charming…
Dior owed his passion for gardening to his mother whom he
literally adored. At age ten, he memorized the names of all existing flowers
and each and every Latin name he could find in the Botanical Dictionary
just to please her. His two brothers and two sisters thought he was
the mom’s favorite, but, self-fixated as she was, their mother simply enjoyed
the adoration of her third son. Christian realized that and kept telling
himself that, clumsy looking, shy, stout and daydreaming, he simply wasn’t
worth being loved just for what he was. That’s why he was working
so hard to earn his mother’s attention, even if it took him to learn by
heart another dictionary, even Chinese. The father of the would-be fashion
legislator was a businessman who owed several fertilizer making factories.
He spent most of his time outdoors and during his rare visits home he took
to disciplining his children, sometimes in no uncertain terms too. To avoid
his father’s wrath, Christian found refuge in the servants’ room dreaming
about carnival attire he would design for his friends.
It seems like his grandmother was the only one in the whole
wide world who loved him for what he was. She knew a wealth of fairy tales
and omens and it is probably from her that Christian learned to be so superstitious.
In any case, he knew that one should backtrack each time he saw his path
crossed by a black cat long before he learned the times table. All
his life he carried with him self-made beads and a small horseshoe just
for luck. At his parents’ insistence he began to study political
science but, quickly realizing it was not his cup of tea, he openly loafed
around increasingly disturbed by the realization that he liked men more
than he did women. Concentrating on his dress designs he eventually
started working for the design house of Lucien Lelong. He might have spent
the rest of his life working there but one day, as he was going to work,
he stumbled upon a horseshoe, and, raising his head, he saw a young woman,
a childhood friend, who was now working for the famous fashion house of
Marcel Boussac. The wealthy textile manufacturer and racehorse collector,
Boussac quickly appreciated the young man’s genius and shortly after, suggested
that he take over the Philip and Gaston fashion house. Realizing that he
also had a business streak, Christian Dior now wanted to be his own
master. Admiring Dior’s exceptional skill, Boussac gave him start up money
and, enlisting the help of many other friends, at nine o’clock in the morning
of December 16, 1947, Christian Dior launched his first fashion house
on Avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Believed, just like any other genius, to be a tyrant, Dior
was also a workaholic staying up nights, working round the clock and keeping
his heart attacks away from the public ear. And still, he cared much
for the people he liked and many of his employees were old buddies. Christian
knew the birthdays of each and everyone working for him, even their favorite
fragrances and colors… After the husband of one of his staffers suddenly
died, Christian Dior, who was her children’s godfather, came to see them
each Christmas night dressed as a Santa Claus and bringing them a heap
of Christmas gifts.
He dedicated his first perfume, Miss Dior, to his beloved
sister. By the way, he was the first to provide each collection with a
special fragrance seeing it as a final and indispensable touch. “Without
a fragrance you have no dress,” he said.
The great fashion legislator died in 1957 choking on a chicken
bone, only a decade after the deafening success of his New Look collection.
Yves Saint Laurent took over, followed by Gianfranco Ferre and John Galliano.
At Grandville where the great couturier once invented his carnival dresses,
there is now a museum offering a look at Dior’s first dresses and prototypes
of his perfumes. And the little garden his mother loved so much…
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