Christian Dior is a great French couturier,who showed the world a completely new image of a woman: elegant, feminine, sophisticated. He became the undisputed trendsetter of the 50s, offering the fair half "fresh" silhouettes every season. Having introduced the licensing system for the first time, the guru created an entire fashion empire. Dior opened his first small store in 1948, and seven years later his "grand boutique" opened its doors, selling not only gloves, hats, underwear, shoes and a variety of perfumes, but also home accessories. In 1957, after the "departure" of the great genius, his assistant I.S. Laurent became the head of the Dior empire. After four years, Marc Bohan was elected art director, who was replaced by Gianfranco Ferré in 1989. The women's collection has been led by the inimitable John Galliano since 1997. In 1967, the first show of the Dior women's ready-to-wear collection (pret-a-porter) took place, since the beginning of the 70s a men's clothing line was launched, and since 1973 the fashion house began to develop fur outfits. The biography of the future couturier is an indicator of the strength of spirit, firmness and perseverance, thanks to which the name Dior is known throughout the world.
Childhood
Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905.The boy spent his childhood in the small town of Granville in Normandy. In 1911, his parents moved to Paris, where they settled in an area called Passy. His family was quite well-off. His father was engaged in the sale of chemical fertilizers: his innate intuition, resourcefulness and ability to trade brought him a stable good income, which his wife, with the ease inherent in women, turned into various pleasures. Despite the fact that in addition to Christian, there were four more children in the family, the kids did not want for anything. The boy received his primary education at home. He loved to draw and spent all his free time doing this. Young Christian's dream was to study at the School of Fine Arts, but his mother and father were against this idea. At the behest of his parents, the boy began to prepare for a career as a diplomat. For this purpose, Dior Jr. even enrolled in the first year of the Free School of Political Sciences, but this idea was not crowned with success - instead of the required lectures on law and geography, the young man spent all his time within the walls of museums, looking at paintings by great artists, took painting lessons and learned the nuances of artistic composition. Therefore, he soon abandoned his studies at the prestigious Academy of Political Sciences and devoted himself entirely to art.
The beginning of a long way
In 1928, together with his friend Christianopened his own art gallery, where works by such great artists as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau were exhibited. The young man always treated fortune tellers with respect and superstitious awe. He believed in their predictions and could spend many hours playing solitaire himself. Once, when he was still a boy, at a children's carnival, Christian, dressed in a gypsy costume he had sewn himself, was selling amulets, and one of the palmists offered to read his future from his hand. She predicted: "You will be left without money, but women will bring you benefit and wealth." Ten years later, a gust of strong wind broke the family mirror at the family estate in Granville. Dior, who attached great importance to symbols, realized that troubles awaited him ahead. Thus, a black streak began in the life of a twenty-five-year-old man. 1931 was a tragic year for Christian. First, his younger brother, who had been a strange child since childhood, ended up in a closed psychiatric clinic, where he subsequently spent his entire life. Then his mother died of cancer, and his father fell ill with tuberculosis and went bankrupt. The gallery, which was largely financed by his parents, also closed. Not knowing how to live on, Christian decided to challenge fate. At that time, all of Paris was engulfed in leftist ideas, and a group of young architects, inspired by dreams of a world revolution, were going to the Soviet Union. Christian, who valued and worshiped Russian art (his idols were Diaghilev, Malevich, Stravinsky, Nijinsky, as well as Chagall, Archipenko, Soutine and others), found the money and joined the delegation. However, he was greatly disappointed - instead of great changes and achievements, the man saw empty shop windows, peeling facades of gray buildings and poverty. Meanwhile, fate has another unpleasant surprise in store for him: Dior falls ill with tuberculosis. Thanks to friends who raise the necessary sum, the man goes to warm Spain for treatment. There, on the distant island of Ibiza, alone with his thoughts, he finally finds “himself”. Then he decides to return to his homeland and devote his life to what he wanted to do since early childhood – sew clothes. It was then, after military service in 1935, that Christian began selling sketches of dresses and hats to fashion houses, which were first published in Le Figaro Illustre magazine. Despite the fact that his headwear models were more popular, he still decided to specialize in clothing. In 1938, Dior went to work for the fashion house of Robert Piqué, simultaneously collaborating with Lucien Lelong.
The long-awaited success
Dior always had a weakness for fragrances.He explained his idea this way: “In order for all my outfits to come into being, and for every girl who wears my clothes to leave behind a fragrant trail of desires, it is enough to uncork the bottle. After all, perfume is an unrivaled shade of female individuality, the final touch of an image or, as Lancret signed his creations, a “rose” for a dress.” Following his dream, in 1942 Christian opened his own perfume laboratory, which later grew into “Christian Dior Parfum.” In 1946, with the help of a sponsor - a textile manufacturer named Marcel Boussac - Christian opened his own fashion house near the Champs Elysees, which in the 50s was the most profitable and largest in Paris. Such great designers as Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin and many others began their careers with him. Just twelve months later, the couturier released his first clothing collection called “The Corolla Line.” It was a completely new, previously unseen "romantic collection". It included ankle-length skirts, either very narrow or lush wide, a wasp waist, kimono sleeves, a smooth shoulder line, high heels, contrasting accessories. A woman in the eyes of the designer looked like a gentle, graceful creature, dressed in elegant, sophisticated outfits. This is exactly what the ladies of that era, "depersonalized" by gray uniforms, lacked. When creating this collection, Christian did not guess that with it he would pave the way to a great career. At first, the newly-minted couturier was treated skeptically, with caution, but a year later the first fashionistas not only in Europe, but also in America accepted his style. Thanks to his innate optimism and keen sense, which allowed Christian to guess the desires of post-war France, "tired" of the struggle, he became one of those who influenced the revival of Paris as the capital of world fashion. Together with his partner, he was the first to introduce licensing agreements into the modeling business. In the late 40s, the designer streamlined the licensing of the production of his own models in different countries of the world. This is how the Dior brand name appeared, now known to everyone.
Death of a couturier
The great couturier Dior lived fashion and was concerned about itfuture, and a few months before his death he wrote: “The emergence of Haute Couture is justified by two reasons. Firstly, it is a real treasure of hard-working and honest artisans. It goes ahead of time, ahead of it, it is haute couture that will become decisive in the fashion trends of Paris in the future. From the designer it will go to the shops and boutiques, then to the manufacturers, and from there it will “go out” to the streets and “capture” all the shop windows. And then each person, depending on his wallet, will become fashionable.” The designer died on October 24, 1957 in Italy. The Christian Dior Museum is now open in the family estate, which is located in his hometown of Granville. It is visited annually by tens of thousands of fans and just tourists. In 1999, John Galliano was appointed creative director and advertising director of the Christian Dior fashion house. Thanks to him, the Dior name began to play in a new way, he was able to reveal a sexier and younger side of the brand. The Christian Dior fashion house presents haute couture and ready-to-wear collections for men, women and children, and also produces a line of cosmetics, perfumes and accessories. We recommend reading:
