Designer Spotlight: Dior; From Paris to the World

“Deep in every heart, slumbers a dream.”

*- Christian Dior*

In November, just around Thanksgiving, I was lucky to break away from work to spend a weekend at home in CO. While I was there I was able to go to the Dior exhibit, Dior: From Paris to the World, at the Denver Art Museum. If I had to choose one word to describe the exhibition… Wow. (Plays Post Malone’s new single).

I want to give a brief synopsis of the what I saw and felt at the exhibit because it was simply stunning, and I learned a lot about the French fashion house. For those who are interested in going it is open until March 17th, then it is moving on to the Dallas Art Museum in May.

First and foremost, the exhibit was curated by Florence Müller, who is the Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art, Curator of Fashion. She is a fabulous, French, fashion macaron of a women who deserves her own blog post to talk about what she has accomplished in her career. Back to Dior, to quote the DAM’s website about the exhibition;

“…surveys 70 years of the house of Dior’s enduring legacy and its global influence. A selection of more than 200 couture dresses, as well as accessories, costume jewelry, photographs, drawings, runway videos, and other archival material, will trace the history of the iconic haute couture fashion house, its founder, Christian Dior, and the subsequent artistic directors who carried Dior’s vision into the 21st century.” - Denver ART Museum

A few tid-bits of history that I learned from this retrospective, I have listed below since there was so much it’s easier to speak in bullet form.

Post World War II was a crucial time for the brand, Christian Dior saw that people needed hope and a better world. He created beauty and elegance with the idea of the ‘flower-woman’ and so came the infamous hourglass silhouette after the masculinity of war.
His first show was called the ‘New Look’ and showed it in his town home in 1947.
Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano and Raf Simons were all creative directors of the brand after Christian Dior’s untimely death in 1957
Yves Saint Laurent was Dior’s assistant before being appointed his predecessor in 1957.
Gianfranco Ferré caused a lot of uproar when he was appointed head of the house, because he was an Italian designer designing for the French.
Maria Grazia Chiuri followed Raf Simons, who was the first woman to be appointed to the house, since it was founded by a man. She brought her own experience on being a woman in a demanding industry with a family to her collections. She created the new Dior woman who is “fragile, desirable, but self-confident with true inner strength.”
Ms. Chiuri’s first ready-to-wear collection paid homage to all creative directors of the brand from 1947 and on. She created a modern fairytale, inspired by the original ‘flower-woman’ Dior created.

“Around the world Dior is Dior. Many people don't know that there were many designers at Dior, i think we have to respect this heritage but at the same time we have to move this heritage in the future. I look around, I take a lot of inspiration but at the same time my idea is to make this element contemporary for modern women.” – Maria Grazia Chiuri

It was a beautifully curated exhibit with amazing collections on display. It gave each creative director of the brand their own “room” as you walked through the wing. You could easily see the progression of techniques, fabrics and inspiration for each designer that worked for the house. They also had special areas that looked at garment construction, shown with a whole wall of white muslin samples, a room with gowns that Dior custom made for celebrities at various award shows, and an area with famous photographs featuring Dior couture (like the famous image of Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon… I die). All of this was complimented with a soft soundtrack of birds chirping, a babbling brook and a light breeze blowing through trees, which was wonderfully calming as you made your way through.

“I tried to show that fashion is an art. For that, I followed the counsel of my master Christian Dior and the imperishable lesson of Mademoiselle Chanel. I created for my era and I tried to foresee what tomorrow would be.” -Yves Saint Laurent

One of my favorite parts was at the beginning of each collection, throughout the timeline, they had the original sketches, mood-board’s and line reviews on display. This was where you could really see a progression through the eras of Dior and how every creative director they had, including Christian Dior himself, brought their own flare and spirit.

“I don't see Dior as something that could become mine. I see it as a dialogue with the women who wear it. I want to stay connected to them rather than to an abstract brand.” - Raf Simons

All the pieces were beautiful; I unfortunately was terrible at recording what dress went with what collection. But I did take a lot of pictures to share this great exhibit with you all. All information about the Denver Art Museum and the book that Florence Müller was a co-author on (that you know I purchased from the museum gift shop) called “Christian Dior Designer of the Ages” is listed below.