On a Friday afternoon earlier this spring, I joined the crowds pushing to get into the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Until Sept. 1, the exhibition is basically sold out, though a limited number of tickets are released every morning at 10 a.m. to hopefuls who queue up outside the V&A’s grand entrance. You can also get around this by buying a membership for £79 ($133).
Arranged in 11 dark rooms in the V&A’s basement, the exhibit spans seven decades and pays special attention to Dior’s relationship with England. To capture Dior’s work on paper has always been my dream as an illustrator. His rounded, hourglass shapes, elegant lines and feminine flourishes had me itching to paint long before my visit began.
Here is a sampling of what stood out to me at the show.
New look, 1947
Virginia Johnson
The first display is Dior’s New Look, in the form of the Bar suit, which launched his career in 1947 and changed fashion forever. Deeply fatigued by wartime and its deprivations, Dior pushed back against the prevailing fashion of “boxy proportions, heavy shoulders, skirt lengths too short and everything covered in feathers and veils.” His first collection was inspired by the shape of a flower, with rounded shoulders and bust, a tiny waist and decadent, voluminous skirts. The use of so much fabric in one ensemble after years of rations caused an outrage: the French Board of Trade implored fashion editors not to cover his collections. But women everywhere were smitten with this longer, romantic silhouette, and if they couldn’t afford an original, they sewed extra bands of fabric to the bottom of their dresses.
As a child
Virginia Johnson
Christian Dior grew up in Normandy in a house on a cliff overlooking the sea. Here, he cultivated a life-long love of gardens that he shared with his mother and later he would find the French countryside a respite from his hectic life in Paris. He was artistically inclined as a child, but his family at first forbade him to enroll in the arts for his studies. After initially pursuing political science, Dior eventually persuaded his family to let him open a small art gallery. When his father was forced to close his fertilizer business in 1931, Dior supported himself by selling his fashion illustrations, leading to his employment at couturier Lucien Lelong. In 1947, at the age of 43, Dior opened his own house.
The Daisy, 1947
Virginia Johnson
Nancy Mitford ordered the Daisy suit from Dior’s first collection, as did Margot Fonteyn and two dozen other private clients. It was similar to the Bar suit in shape, but had a softer shape and tiny rows of pin tucks running horizontally above the hemline. Mitford wore it in a 1948 portrait by Danish artist Mogens Tvede. By then she had adopted Dior’s whole aesthetic top-to-bottom, writing to her sister: “Now I’m nearly 50 I’ve decided to choose a style and stick to it and I choose Dior’s present collection.” (She was actually only 42 when she wrote this).
Mexico dress, 1953
Virginia Johnson
By the early 1950s, Mexico and Latin America more broadly were already important markets. Dior showed his collection in Mexico City in 1954 using models he sent over from Paris and established licensing arrangements with retailers and manufacturers there. This print was inspired by the Tehuana "resplandor” headdresses, which feature a scalloped trim and are made of lace. Wallis Simpson ordered a version of this dress using the same black-and-white organza fabric for a gown she would wear to the Circus Ball in Paris in 1953.
Princess Margaret
Virginia Johnson
Dior first met 18-year-old Princess Margaret when she visited his salon in Paris in 1949. In 1951, he created the ball gown for her 21st birthday party. A romantic cloud of tulle embroidered with gold straw and sequins, the gown immortalized her as a fairy princess and established her as a style icon. A few years later Princess Margaret would be the guest of honour at a Dior charity ball at Blenheim Palace, organized by the Duchess of Marlborough, Mary Spencer-Churchill, to benefit the Red Cross. Princess Margaret would continue her close relationship with the designer until his death in 1957.
Roger Vivier
Virginia Johnson
Dior partnered with French shoe designer Roger Vivier in 1953 for more than a decade, before launching his own label. Here are his red satin pumps from 1959, blue and green floral heels with bows from 1958 and green velvet evening shoes from 1960.
Romance dress, 1951
Virginia Johnson
Dior structured many of his dresses underneath with boning and petticoats, which gave the figure a beautiful shape and a smooth line. Since he couldn’t sew or make patterns himself, relying heavily on his illustrations, he often draped fabric panels down the front, cinched with a belt, as he does here with blue velvet and silk satin.
Ulysse coat, 1952
Virginia Johnson
Dior came up with a theme for each collection based on a line, such as the Y line or the S line, to summarize the general shape of the dresses that season. This swing coat is from Dior’s Profilée line in 1952, from the collection of Vogue editor Hamish Bowles.
Athena dress, 1951
Virginia Johnson/Supplied
This dress of heavy candlelight silk satin again shows Dior’s love of drapery. He gently pleated a panel of fabric into a fan-like shape above and below a tiny waist, which contrasts with the narrow, columnar shape of the skirt.
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