Christian Dior - biography of the designer

Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905 in France in the city of Granville (Normandy) on the banks of the English Channel. Christian was the second child in the family. My father was engaged in the trade in chemical fertilizers and made a considerable fortune on this. Therefore, all five children of the family are in nothing
did not need. Christian's mother was a beautiful woman and knew how to spend money on her pleasures and outfits. Little Christian always admired his elegant mother, the memory of her did not leave him all his life. When he was 6 years old, the family moved to Paris.

Everything, it would seem, foreshadowed a calm measured life. Christian's parents went about their own business, and Christian was preparing for a diplomatic career, although he was not at all attracted by this, but his father wished so. Art was more to his liking. He spent a lot of time with his friend Jean Bonjac in museums, studied painting and musical composition. It was the time of Russian ballets. Life in Paris served as a real school for Dior.

But the serene time is over. In 1931, his mother dies of cancer, and his father goes bankrupt and after a while falls ill with tuberculosis. What is he left to do? Christian Dior starts selling his drawings (sketches of clothes and hats) to Le Figaro Illustre magazine. And he was immediately noticed by the famous fashion designer Robert Piguet at that time.
True, the rise to glory of the great couturier was interrupted by the war. However, in 1941, Christian returned to Paris and began working at the Lucien Lelong model house. Some time later, in 1942, Christian creates his own perfume line, which will soon become the Christian Dior Perfume company. His first perfumes were Miss Dior, Diorissimo, Diorama.

Christian Dior has always believed that perfume is a complement to a woman's personality, which completes her outfit.

And in 1946, he managed to awaken interest in his new projects from the very wealthy textile magnate Marcel Bussac, and with his support he opened his first fashion house.
Perhaps the memory of his elegant mother, or maybe the end of the war and the desire to see all women beautifully and elegantly dressed, led to the fact that gave impetus to the "New Direction".

He caught the spirit of the times - after the war, everyone wanted to feel the joy of life. What many thought was a revolution in fashion simply corresponded to the needs of the people of the time.
“New Direction” or New Look - Christian Dior's first collection symbolized optimism and abundance. It was a "romantic line", in which there were soft sloping shoulders, a fitted bodice, round hips and a thin waist, wide fluffy skirts, which took up to 40 meters of fabric. Christian Dior felt how women wanted to look and offered them the desired look.

His first collection was shown on February 12, 1947, which caused a sensation almost all over the world. American journalist Carmel Snow named the collection new look - “new look”, “new direction”.

Dior became the king of fashion and queens came to him: Farah Diba, Duchess
Windsor, Eva Gardner, Ingrid Bergman, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Lauren Bacall.
For 11 years, he developed 22 different silhouettes, the female figure could be similar to 8, and to H, and to A or Y, but the length of all his images was always between the knee and the ankle. And all the women impeccably followed his ideas. Dior invented new silhouettes to keep the interest in fashion going. Dior set the tone, and everyone else obeyed him.

He created unique outfits and loved to be copied. His "New Direction" is most likely a revival of that beautiful past, where luxurious and elegant outfits. And in this his creative genius was fully realized. Dior believed that fashion cannot be imposed, women accepted his new look with delight because they wanted to look feminine.In the first collection, day dresses weighed up to 4 kilograms, and evening dresses - up to 30 kilograms, but Dior's desire to revive great luxury was too great. He said: “Europe is tired of falling bombs. Now she wants to light fireworks. "

Dior's models demonstrated their outfits theatrically, they quickly replaced each other, the names sounded, the swings of the magnificent outfits were breathtaking. Christian Dior he loved his models, was polite with them and affectionately called them - "My girls". Dior knew the market well, he took care of sensations and turnover, and had outstanding business qualities.

Christian Dior was a good diplomat in his field (his father's dream came true). When Dior was in America for the Oscars in design, he announced the free copying of masterpieces, but on condition that the author received some amount from all sales, that is, Christian Dior invented the license fee. And already since 1949, the circulation of each of his ideas gave a percentage. And from that time on, he began to sell the right to put his brand name. In this case, the licensees had to work either in the style of the master, or copy his models.

By nature, Dior was soft, gentle and shy. Everyone who worked with him knew him as a dreamy, humble and polite person. He bowed to everyone, even the trainees made way to the elevator. Each of his employees was treated with attention, each of them chose suitable Christmas gifts. Dior provided employees with comfort, food and social security.

Dior loved to feast on, hated and feared being alone. He had many friends, but most often he was surrounded by a company of his closest friends, among whom were Christian Bérard, Jean Cocteau, composers Francis Poulenc and Georges Auric, and the head of the salon Raymonda Zeinaker. Dior did not suffer from petty pride, he knew how to admire the creations of his colleagues, especially Chanel and Vionne.

Christian Dior was superstitious, always before the show of the collection, and indeed in all cases of life, he consulted with his fortuneteller Madame Delahaye.
When I was preparing my new collection, I always closed myself in my office, and the servant walked quietly, and in soft slippers, so as not to disturb him. Usually, each fashion designer in a new collection proposed one or two new basic ideas, and new models, images were created around them, and Christian Dior said so - I only have 12.

Dior opened many branches abroad, and for each of them he invented special models. The salons were located in London, New York and Caracas. All the models that he invented for them met the needs of local customers. Thus, he had to develop about 1000 models a year. Dior's health was failing and he had symptoms of stress. But outwardly for outsiders, he changed little, except that he only grew thinner and thinner. Only those closest to him knew that he had already had heart attacks. And there was one more secret - he was deeply unhappy in love ...

Not all designers were delighted with Dior's creations. Balenciaga, who always sewed only from expensive fabrics and treated them with trepidation, considered Dior's work with fabrics terrible. Yes and Chanel, who was for the complete emancipation of women, especially in clothing, said: “Dior? He doesn't dress women, he stuffs them. " And yet, it was the great French couturier who gave the world the image of a graceful and elegant woman.

At 52, on October 24, 1957, after a sudden cardiac arrest, Christian Dior left this world.

There is now a museum in his house in Granville.

Perfumery Christian Dior.
Christian Dior perfumery ranks 4th in the world in terms of sales. Both bottles and packaging are made in the corporate style, which was introduced by Christian Dior: a range of gray, pink and white, medallions a la Louis XVI, paper with a matting texture in ribbons, satin ribbons.

The House of Dior has made many discoveries in the field of fragrances - some of the best are, for example, the essence of lily of the valley and vanilla.
There are currently over 90 Dior fragrances in existence.

The most popular Christian Dior fragrances:

Dior Dolce Vita (for women)
Dior Dune (for women and men)
Dior Poison (for women)
Dior Fahrenheit (for men)
Dior Miss Dior Cherie (for women)
Dior Homme Sport (for men)
Dior Higher (for men)
Dior Homme (for men)
Dior Addict (for women)
Dior J'adore (for women)

The House of Dior is the home of outstanding designers of the 20th century. In 1953, Yves Saint Laurent joined the company and after the death of Dior became the leading fashion designer of the house of Dior. In 1960, this place passed to Marc Boan, then in 1989 he was replaced by Gianfranco Ferre. Since 1996, John Galliano has been the chief designer of the house. The name Dior is synonymous with Parisian fashion.