Christian Dior: "Fashion Comes From Dreams"
Christian Dior’s creation of the “New Look” 52 years ago completely reshaped the world of fashion and secured Dior as a name symbolic of elegance, and impeccable quality. Today we’re celebrating the legacy of the brand’s success, its iconic sense of beauty, and Christian Dior’s idealized conceptualization of women with these unique facts about Dior you might be surprised to learn.
Christian Dior’s First Collection: Floral Inspiration
Despite popular belief, the iconic designer’s first collection was not titled “New Look”. The collection was titled “Corolle”, denoting flower-like silhouettes of these fashion creations. The name “New Look” was coined by Harper’s Bazzar editor at the time. It is believed her idea was that it’s a new look for women, and referred more to an era rather than Dior’s individual creations.
His first collection--the Spring–Summer 1947 show--consisted of 90 creations, “modeled” by six mannequins. It was humbly presented in the salons of the company's headquarters.
Jewelry and Fashion Creations That meant To Provide Hope
If you read memoirs written by those who knew Christian Dior personally and knew him well, you’ll see one thing they all agree on: Dior was an optimist. His writings breathe with a hopeful approach to art with a never failing emphasis on aesthetic values rather than social-political themes.
He believed in beauty and thus offered beauty. 1940s and 1950s were certainly dark as well as uncertain times, in the wake of war and holocaust, through his collections, Dior tried to convey a will to believe in the power of inner beauty and goodness.
Christian Dior Inspiration for Dior’s work was heavily sourced from La Belle Époque, or The Beautiful Era. The couturier completely and utterly adored his mother Isabelle Cardamone. Christian Dior often said that his mother had symbolized The Beautiful Era’s elegant silhouette and lavish textures for him.
Further Rise Of Dior Fine Jewelry
The famed fashion house was one of the elite brands, alongside Chanel, who helped bring costume jewelry mainstream. While most designers chose to compliment their fashions with subtle accessories, Dior considered jewelry to be an inseparable part of the complete look. He specifically designed pieces for his collections, not as an afterthought. Christian Dior opened a fashion house called “Dior Costume Jewelry” in Germany in 1948.
As much as Paris has established itself as a capital of fashion and exquisite fine jewelry, the first Dior Fine Jewelry boutique opened in New York City, not in Paris. Victoire de Castellane became lead designer of Dior Fine Jewelry. Paris’s Fine Jewelry boutique for House of Dior was of course to come into existence too--the following year, at 28 Avenue Montaigne.
Castellane worked at Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld for fifteen years, from 1984, as a studio assistant, and a designer of costume jewelry after that. Castellane is known for her bold jewelry designs: She once embedded a semi-precious opal the size of a penny in a cocktail ring, to emulate a pond surrounded by miniature flowers with stamens.
