Christian Dior Handbags
Christian Dior was known as “The most recognized name in fashion…” He was born in the French town of Grenville in 1905 and while he was just five years old his parents moved on to Paris. He studied from 1923 till 1927 and completed his mandatory military service. Dior and his friend Jacques Bonjean founded an art gallery on rue de la Boetie. In 1931 Christian Dior lost his mother, his brother also passed away and his family faced a severe financial crisis, which ruined them. His friend Jean Ozenne offered him a house and helped him to begin sketching dresses and hats. In the course of his selling his sketches, Dior chanced to meet Robert Piguet who also bought some of his sketches, and some appeared in “Le Figaro”. In 1938, Piguet launched a fashion house taking Dior as a designer. However, Dior’s association with Piguet was short-lived due to the outbreak of war when Dior had to join the military after a year.
The Rise
In 1941, he joined Lucien Lelong as a designer after returning from military service where he worked till 1946. His stint with Lelong was a pleasant one as he had the liberty to design according as he wished. Soon after Marcel Boussac, a cotton businessman was seeking a designer to acquire his couture business. Dior started his salon at 30 Ave Montaigne which was his favorite which was leased, festooned and embellished into Dior’s adaptation of Louis XVI salon. Boussac made a substantial investment and the total initiative took shape.
Dior’s Foray into the Big League
Dior made a careful soul searching before launching his debut collection. He could realize that women of Paris and elsewhere were fed up with rationing, denial, sacrifice, with scruffy clothes tailored with the minimum of fabric, of wide shoulders and dresses which appeared more like uniforms. He took a resolve to launch beautiful, feminine clothes, soft rounded clothes, full-flowing skirts, nipped in waists and hemlines below the knee portion and named his collection COROLLEE or ring of petals. With the release of his inaugural collection, women found everything Dior had planned and they simply loved the dresses making the collection an astounding success. The collection was named as ‘The New Look’ after a journalist felt it had a wonderful new look. The hallmark of the New Look was that it had a richer look in sharp contrast to the austerity of the war style that featured luxury rather than comfort. Dior’s designs helped reinforce the position of France as the citadel of world fashion. While women across the world just loved the ‘New Look’ collection, there were many who opposed it. Many tore off the clothes from the bodies of models and Governments throughout the globe damned the collection as lavish, profligate and offensive. In some of skirts designed by Dior had upto 40 metres of cloth in them which was considered awful. The British Government decried English women to shun Dior. But Dior made a tactical move. He made arrangements for special showing for the Queen, Prince Margaret and other royal women at the French Embassy about which the Government had no knowledge. The royal ladies loved the clothes and Prince Margaret herself wore the New Look range. At this the Board of Trade changed its earlier stand and announced “…we cannot dictate to women the length of their skirts.” The New Look appeared in the Vogue magazine in March 1948. Among the most popular design within the New Look range was the ‘Bar’ of a shantung silk jacket over a black pleated skirt. Skirts came to be wider and waists tinier until the body resembled more or less like the figure 8. Following a spate of releases, during the 1954 Autumn/ Winter collection, Dior launched his elongated torso shaped from hipbone to bust which was named a the ‘Second Look’ by the Time magazine. The 1955 Spring collection was possibly the most famous collection after the New Look having a narrow shoulders crowning a triangular shape.
Diversification into Personal Care Products
In 1947, Dior diversified into manufacture of perfume and named the first perfume as “Miss Dior’. The legendary Pierre Cardin got associated with Dior and remained with him till the year 1950. A series of perfume launches followed with Diorama in 1949, Eau Fraiche in 1953, Diorissimo in 1956 and Diorling in 1963. In 1966, the House of Dior launched it first male fragrance Eau Sauvage. Dior-Dior came next in 1976, Dioessence in 1979, Jules in 1980 and Eau Sauvage Extreme was launched in 1984. In 1985 the perfume ‘Poison’ was launched. Next followed Fahrenheit in 1988, Dune in 19992, Tender Poison in 1994, Dolce Vita in 1995, Dune for man in 1997, Eau De Dolce Vita and Hypnotic Poison in 1998. In 1999, J’Adore was launched, 2000 saw Remember Me, in 2001 Forever and Ever and in 2002, I Love Dior was launched. Dior also diversified into ready-made garments in the luxury segment in New York making it the first of its kind. The year 1950 saw a range of products like stockings, ties and all other accessories marketed in the USA under license. Dior made further diversifications by launching lipsticks and beauty products in 1955. In the same year also, Yves St. Laurent became Dior’s first and sole designing assistant.
The End of an Era
In 1957, Christian Dior passed away plunging the world of fashion in deep mourning and Yves St. Laurent took over the business as the artistic head. The house of Dior employed more than 1200 employees, across 28 workrooms and employed its own police force to check piracy. The organization was a million dollar one and the demise put a great challenge to the house of Dior and even France itself.
The Show Must Go On
Yves St. Laurent and Marc Bohan – the two young designers took off from where Christian Dior left. Laurent presented his fantastic first collection – the Trapeze Line. Marc Mohan remained for about 30 years as the head of Dior and his first collection SLIM line was a runaway success. However, in 1960, Laurent was called for military service and on his return found to his utter dismay that Marc Bohan has assumed the charge of the house of Dior. He sued Dior as he held a contract for the position with Dior. He received compensation of 48,000 pounds and invested this money to start his own salon. In 1961, Miss Dior readymade was launched in France and a Baby Dior boutique is opened. The years from 1968 till 1989 saw a series of launches.
While the House of Dior continues to be a thriving business today, Dior’s sudden death in 1957 left the world of fashion a towering asset. Christian Dior made the designs under his own name just for a decade; however his influence will reverberate for many years to come.
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