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On Wednesday, February 12, 1947, around 9:45, a line of incredibly glamorous people was waiting in front of 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, shaking in temperatures below -5 ° C.
Among them were the artist Jean Cocteau, the mundane Lady Diana Cooper and the editors of American Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
It was the coldest winter in a generation. They froze.
Meanwhile, in the newly destroyed house, people were hurrying to bring the finishing touches to a brand new women's fashion collection.
The tensions were sharp.
It was the launch of a high fashion brand whose cost would have cost millions of francs.
At 9:59 am, a tall, middle-aged man, much like Alfred Hitchbad, walked among the innumerable flower arrangements throughout the house, calmly spraying the perfume Paul Vacher had created for him to set the tone. to his eponymous company.
At exactly 10 am, he instructed one of his staff to open the front door.
The 42-year-old host, described by photographer Cecil Beaton as "a bland marzipan campaign priest," greeted each guest individually and invited them to relax before presenting his much-anticipated first collection.
Everything was arranged perfectly.
It should have been.
It was the way of this man: it was the mark of Christian Dior.
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The first collection of Christian Dior in 1947 was the hottest show in the city
Find out what happened next at the V & A in London, which presents a 72-year retrospective of the Dior brand in the international fashion elite.
It starts where the story ends at 30 Avenue Montaigne.
- Why Christian Dior loved Britain
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Dior Heritage Collection
Christian Dior knew that his fashion house located at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, would house his couture brand
As you head towards the imposing gateway, your path is blocked by a black dummy wearing the two-tone bi-tone that defined both the inaugural 1947 show and Christian Dior.
The bar costume caused a sensation.
It was an extravagant and rebellious response to the grim austerity of postwar Europe. Instead of a dull boxing jacket and a simple skirt demanding a minimum of fabric or imagination, Dior presented a silk jacket with soft shoulders and wasp waist unfolding at above the hips to reveal a long skirt with dark blue folds yards of fabric to produce.
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VIRGINIA
With its feminine silhouette, the bar suit (1947) became the emblem of the New Look
It was scandalously decadent at a time of rationing, but also fabulously exciting: a colorful, opulent and beautiful future vision.
Politicians have hated him, as have some members of the public who have notoriously spat and attacked Dior wearing models. There was even an incident, made famous by photographer Walter Carone, in which a young woman was filmed and undressed by two older ladies of the "make-do-and-mend" school who were shocked by what they perceived as a free waste.
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Walter Carone
Walter Carone captured the moment when a young woman had her clothes torn apart by women outraged by what they considered as a tissue loss.
Fashionistas have seen things differently. They absolutely loved what was immediately known as New Look.
Christian Dior had arrived.
The reason his work has had such an immediate impact is obvious when you cross the threshold and enter the first gallery. The designs he made and the fabrics he used were the epitome of clbadic glamor, with elegant lines – or silhouettes – carved in luxurious materials. They are a marvel to see, at least outside.
I imagined that whalebone corsets and underwired structures were necessary to keep the shape neither elegant nor luxurious. Yet, one must suffer to be beautiful, as they say.
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Christian Dior via V & A
Christian Dior with Lucky model, circa 1955
Princess Margaret commissioned the Frenchwoman to make her 21st birthday dress; here – finally – was a designer producing clothes for young modern women and not for old rich ladies.
The dress that he produced for Margaret is on display next to the famous photography of the Princess of Beaton, behind which is a showcased showcase of dresses that Dior made for other members of high society next generation.
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Christian Dior designed this dress for Princess Margaret, which she wore for her 21 years
When you enter the third gallery, everything changes … for a reason. Christian Dior is dead.
Ten years after the cold morning of February 1947, the famous designer suffered a serious heart attack in Italy.
There was talk of closing the company, but Dior had a 21-year-old badistant who was making promises. The council decided to try it.
Yves Saint Laurent did not let them down.
You can see his Dior design clbadics mixed with those produced by the five creative directors who followed him, including baroque ebullience pieces by John Galliano. They all have their own idiosyncratic style, but there is a "Diorness" that unites them, which is most evident in the display of their reinvented bar costumes.
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VIRGINIA
Yves Saint Laurent was only 21 when he was named creative director of Dior, but did not disappoint.
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VIRGINIA
John Galliano at Dior pushed the definition of haute couture with his extraordinary and sumptuous designs
The themes rather than the timeline lead you through the rest of the exhibition.
There are galleries devoted to historicism, gardens, workshops and, finally, a glittering ballroom with animated sequins gushing from the ceiling and walls. The effect is only marginally compromised by an anti-slip rubber mat underfoot rather than by a polished suspended wooden floor for dancing.
Christian Dior was not renowned for its minimal costs, nor was the V & A.
The museum created a stem for its own back with its hit show Alexander McQueen in 2012. It has changed visitor expectations forever. Nowadays, some showcases of pretty dresses do not cut mustard – bettors want to live an unforgettable theatrical experience and publish on Instagram.
And conservative Oriole Cullen just said. This is a fantastic show, built from a modest album of family photos from the beginning to a climatic end, with over 70 years of creative excellence.
It's a shameless celebration of Christian Dior's joie de vivre.
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Adrien Dirand
This is by far the most successful exhibition of the museum's recently opened underground gallery. It's a space that would make decent parking, but an extremely difficult place to program. To give visitors the slightest sense of narrative flow, you have to build an inner world that costs, you say, a staggering amount of money.
Nevertheless, the Kensington institution expects a lot of people to attend the show over the next six months. Thus, in the spirit of Christian Dior, she chose to invest heavily in the scenography of Nathalie Crinière.
Despite a gap in the third gallery, she and her team pulled her down and presented an environment that I suspect Christian Dior would not only recognize, but would wander by cheerfully spraying her Miss Dior scent.
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