Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE. His fashion houses are known all around the world, having gained prominence "on five continents in only a decade." Dior's skills led to his employment and design for various fashion icons in attempts to preserve the fashion industry during World War II. Post-war, he founded and established the Dior fashion house, with his collection of the " New Look". In 1947 the collection debuted, in which he introduced the "New Look." Featuring rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and very full skirt, the New Look celebrated ultra-femininity and opulence in women's fashion. Throughout his lifetime, he won numerous awards for Best Costume Design. Upon his death in 1957, various contemporary icons paid tribute to his life and work.

Early life

Dior was born in Granville, a seaside town on the coast of Normandy, France. He was the second of five children born to

Maurice Dior Alexandre Louis Maurice Dior (7 February 1872 – 9 December 1946) was a French industrialist, and the father of grand couturier Christian Dior and French Resistance member Catherine Dior. Early life Maurice Dior was born in Normandy and cam ...

, a wealthy fertilizer manufacturer (the family firm was Dior Frères), and his wife, formerly

Madeleine Martin Madeleine Elizabeth Martin (born April 15, 1993) is an American actress, known for her role as the character Rebecca "Becca" Moody on Showtime comedy-drama ''Californication''. Early life Martin grew up in New York City, United States. As her m ...

. He had four siblings: Raymond (father of

Françoise Dior Marie Françoise Suzanne Dior (7 April 1932 – 20 January 1993) was a French socialite and neo-Nazi underground financier. She was the niece of French fashion designer Christian Dior and Resistance fighter Catherine Dior, who publicly distance ...

), Jacqueline, Bernard, and Catherine Dior.Pochna, M-F. (1996). ''Christian Dior: The Man Who Made the World Look New'' p. 5, Arcade Publishing. . When Christian was about five years old, the family moved to Paris, but still returned to the Normandy coast for summer holidays. Dior's family had hoped he would become a diplomat, but Dior wished to be involved in art. To make money, he sold his fashion sketches outside his house for about 10 cents each ($ in dollars ). In 1928, he left school and received money from his father to finance a small art gallery, where he and a friend sold art by the likes of Pablo Picasso. The gallery was closed three years later, following the deaths of Dior's mother and brother, as well as financial trouble during the

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that resulted in his father losing control of the family business. Dior had no choice but to find another source of income to support himself. In search of work, Dior created fashion sketches and ended up selling them. His sketches later got him discovered by

Robert Piguet Robert Piguet (1898 – 1953) was a Swiss-born, Paris-based fashion designer who is mainly remembered for training Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy. The Piguet fashion house ran from 1933 to 1951; since then, the brand Robert Piguet has been ...

. From 1937, Dior was employed by fashion designer Piguet, who gave him the opportunity to design for three collections. Dior later said that "Robert Piguet taught me the virtues of simplicity through which true elegance must come." One of his original designs for Piguet, a day dress with a short, full skirt that was in his collection called "Cafe Anglais", was particularly well received. Whilst at Piguet, Dior worked alongside Pierre Balmain, and was succeeded as house designer by

Marc Bohan Marc Roger Maurice Louis Bohan (born 22 August 1926) is a French fashion designer, best known for his 30-year career at the house of Dior. Early life and career Bohan was born in Paris and grew up in Sceaux. As a child, Marc Bohan was encourag ...

– who would, in 1960, become head of design for Christian Dior Paris. Dior left Piguet when he was called up for military service. In 1942, when Dior left the army, he joined the fashion house of Lucien Lelong, where he and Balmain were the primary designers. For the duration of World War II, Dior, as an employee of Lelong, designed dresses for the wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators, as did other fashion houses that remained in business during the war, including Jean Patou, Jeanne Lanvin, and Nina Ricci. His sister, Catherine (1917–2008), a member of the French Resistance, was captured by the Gestapo and sent to the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

, where she was incarcerated until her liberation in May 1945. In 1947, Dior named his debut fragrance ''Miss Dior'' in tribute to her. Christian Dior was known for being superstitious. He often consulted his astrologer before making decisions, and his collections frequently featured talismanic symbols. He also carried a cluster of lucky charms with him, believing they brought him good fortune.

The Dior fashion house

In 1946, Marcel Boussac, a successful entrepreneur, invited Dior to design for Philippe et Gaston, a Paris fashion house launched in 1925. Dior refused, wishing to make a fresh start under his own name rather than reviving an old brand. In 1946, with Boussac's backing, Dior founded his fashion house. The name of the line of his first collection, presented on 12 February 1947, was ''Corolle'' (literally the botanical term ''corolla'' or ''circlet of flower petals'' in English). Dior's debut collection included a launch of 90 garments displayed in outfit

The phrase ''New Look'' was coined for it by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

''. Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles that had been influenced by the wartime rationing of fabric. Despite being called "New," the Corolle line was clearly drawn from styles of the Edwardian era, refining and crystallizing trends in skirt shape and waistline that had been burgeoning in high fashion since the late 1930s. The house employed Pierre Cardin as head of its tailoring atelier for the first three years of its existence, and it was Cardin who designed one of the most popular of the Corolle ensembles, the 1947 Bar suit. The " New Look" revolutionized women's dress, reestablished Paris as the centre of the fashion world after World War II, and made Dior a virtual arbiter of fashion for much of the following decade. Dior's collection was an inspiration to many women post-war and helped them regain their love for fashion. Each season featured a newly titled Dior "line," in the manner of 1947's "Corolle" line, that would be trumpeted in the fashion press: the Envol and Cyclone/Zigzag lines in 1948; the Trompe l'Oeil and Mid-Century lines in 1949; the Vertical and Oblique lines in 1950; the Oval and Longue/Princesse lines in 1951; the Sinueuse and Profilėe lines in 1952; the Tulipe and Vivante/Cupola lines in 1953; the Muguet/Lily of the Valley line and H-Line in 1954; the A-Line and Y-Line in 1955; the Flèche/Arrow and Aimant/Magnet lines in 1956; and the Libre/Free and Fuseau/Spindle lines in 1957, followed by successor Yves Saint Laurent's Trapeze line in 1958. In 1955, 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent became Dior's design assistant. Dior told Saint Laurent's mother in 1957 that he had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him at Dior. She indicated later that she was confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 at the time.

Death

Dior died of a sudden heart attack while on vacation in Montecatini, Italy, on 24 October 1957 in the late afternoon while playing a game of cards. He was survived by Jacques Benita, a North African singer three decades his junior, the last of a number of discreet male lovers.

Awards and honors

Dior was nominated for the 1955 Academy Award for Best Costume Design in black and white for the '' Terminal Station'' directed by Vittorio De Sica (1953). He was also nominated in 1967 for a BAFTA for Best British Costume (Colour) for the '' Arabesque'' directed by Stanley Donen (1966). For the

11th César Awards The 11th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, honoured the best French films of 1985 and took place on 22 February 1986 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. The ceremony was chaired by Madelein ...

in 1986, he was nominated for Best Costume Design (Meilleurs costumes) for the 1985 film ''Bras de fer''.

References

External links

Photos of Dior and Samples of New Look Fashion
*

* ttp://www.digitalcollection.chicagohistory.org/cdm/search/collection/p16029coll3/searchterm/dior/field/creato/mode/all/conn/and/order/title Christian Dior at Chicago History Museum Digital Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Dior, Christian 1905 births 1957 deaths People from Manche French fashion designers LGBT fashion designers French LGBT artists French military personnel of World War II Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni Dior people 20th-century French LGBT people