By Romy Hansen
The UK’s largest ever Dior exhibition opened at the V&A Museum on February 2 and sold out almost instantly. The exhibition features over 200 rare haute couture pieces from the iconic House of Dior spanning from 1947 to the present day. The show includes a new section showing the close relationship Christian Dior had with British culture and showcases famous dresses worn by the likes of Princess Margaret.
In light of this groundbreaking exhibition, we take a look at how one of France’s greatest fashion designers pushed boundaries and redefined the industry.
After the end of the second world war in 1945, the world was starved of glamour, femininity and luxury. Two years later, in February 1947, Christian Dior swept the world off its feet with a collection of grand designs including beautiful frivolous skirts, tiny waistlines and fitted jackets revealing hourglass figures that had not been seen for decades.
The collection brought about an international frenzy and Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow dubbed Dior’s collection “a revolution” and hailed him for creating “the new look”. A legend was born.
The French couturier presented a vivid, luxurious, beautiful collection to a society that was gasping for all these things after years of dire war and darkness. The collection not only symbolised a new era in terms of fashion and style, but the new beginning of society.
Christian Dior also changed the place of designers in the industry. He became an international celebrity and played the media to his advantage, using his marketing concepts to revive and revolutionise the fashion industry. By 1950, the House of Dior earned over half the profits of the Parisian couture industry and continues to prevail at the forefront of fashion today.
コメント