Christian Dior was born in Granuille in France in 1905 and died in 1957. He studied political science in Paris and made music. He ran an art gallery and travelled. In 1935 he lived in Paris and sold fashion sketches to newspapers. In 1938 he joind Robert Pignet and in 1942 he moved to Lelong, where he worked alongside Balamain.

Then Marcel Boussac offered Dior the opporturity to open his own couture house. Dior´s first collection, originally called the Carolle Line, because of it`s huge skirts which spead like corollas from fitted bodies and tiny waists, was nicknamed the NEW LOOK.This name was created by the Amerikan press.The New Look featuried narrow shoulders and calf-length, full skirts and padded hips.This was a strong contrast to women’s fashion before WW2, when women wore broad shoulders and short, straight skirts of the World War 2 years.

The New Look was the symbol of the new life style and the hopes of the people. In Dior`s 1948 collection.”Envol”, typical features were that, skirts were scooped up at the back, worn with jackets that were cut with loose, fly-away backs and stand-up collars. In 1950s skirts became shorter. The jackets were large and box-shaped, they sometimes had Horseshoe collars. During the following seven years Dior introduced his version of the “Coolie Hat”, and his Princess Line. His three piece suit of 1952 cardigan-jacket, simple top worn outside, and soft skirt made from crepe in pastel shades-influenced fashion for many years. Many of his collections featured three-quarter-length sleeves and stoles which remained popular throughout the 1950s.

In 1953 he raised skirts again to a couple of inches bellow the knee and showed them with top-heavy barrel-shaped coats and jackets. Dior spearhearded a revival of men`s suiting in 1954, naming his collection that year the H-Line. The H-Line was particularly suited for evening wear. In 1955 A-Line and Y-Line followed. Women wore large V-shaped collars and giant stoles. During this time many orientally inspired clothes became fashionable, including Dior`s version of the Caftan and Cheongsam.

In Dior`s last collection, in 1957, based on the Vereuse, a garment with a stand-away collar, cut to hang loosely on the hips, he also showed khaki bush jackets with button-down flap pockets, a belted vareuse, Oriental Tunik dresses and a belttess chemise dress with standup collar and patch pockets.

Dior favoured black, navy blue and white. He accessorized his clothes by pinning brooches to the neck, shoulder and waist. Ropes of pearts wound around the neck, have been extensively copied fashion since Dior introduced them in the 1950 sand his first perfume was “ Miss Dior “ in 1947.
His undisputed elegance of line and seulptured structures have in fluenced daecades of women and designes. At the time of his death, Dior salons had been opened in 24 countries. The Dior firm, successively led by the French designers Yves St Laurant and Marc Bohan, continued to be a fashion leader and was associated with a much wider range of merchandise, including menswear and household lines.

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By Hatice Korkmaz and Meryem Tarcan

Sources

O'Hara Callan, Geogina: Dictionary of Fashion and Fashion Designers. London: Thames and Hudson, 1998.
Seeling, Charlotte: Mode - das Jahrhundert der Designer. Köln: Könemann, 1999.

Timeline Fashion

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