Christian Dior Style - New Look (New Look 1947)

In 1947 Christian Dior presented his collection, which Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar magazine, expressing her admiration, said: "This is a real revolution, dear Christian, your dresses represent a new direction." 1947, such a terrible war recently ended, which brought a lot of grief and loss for all mankind. And after poor and shabby clothes, women dreamed of becoming women again. Therefore, the Dior collection with such fragile waists, with such gentle curves and luxurious wide skirts - all this coincided with the dreams of many, many women. When was the last time nearly every woman saw herself dressed like this? Yes, many were left without husbands, most with children, who had to be thought of first of all in order to dress and feed them. Where are the luxurious outfits. And yet, after the horrors of war, every woman wanted to change her military or worn-out working, most often men's, clothes for the most feminine outfits and take her place - the place of a woman-wife, mother, friend, beloved and protected. Everyone wanted to feel joy in life.

This is why New Direction or New Look was such an overwhelming success. As if there was an explosion of so many years of suppressed desires.

Luxurious outfits with unimaginably wide skirts were available to rich people, but ...
Why not pull off the blackout curtains and make yourself a chic dress. Yes, there was such a thing. During the war, women learned to do a lot "out of nothing."

And so, New Look Style. What is characteristic of this style? First of all, the hourglass silhouette: round hips, sloping shoulders and a wasp waist. The length of the dress is below the knee, most often, covering the calves. The soft folds of the luxurious skirt are beautiful in motion, the bodice fits the figure. The sleeves are narrow, kimono-cut, three-quarters long, and then such as they were called - "lanterns" and "wings" appeared. As an everyday option - a fitted suit, in which the skirt could be either rather narrow or immensely wide. Since the latter had multi-meter fabrics, here too women were able to find a way out - petticoats were sewn, which could be starch, and this was enough for a beautiful lady to find herself in the arms of a “multi-meter” skirt.

The shoe had a narrow and sharp toe, but the toe was somewhat wider and rounded. The heel is medium or high in height, then the “stiletto heel” appeared. And in the evening, the ladies wore sandals, which were made of silk or brocade, decorated with strass buckles. Roger Vivière is one of those designers who worked with Christian Dior. His shoes then enjoyed great success, he designed almost all of Dior's collections. It was he who created shoes from golden leather with heels decorated with rubies for Elizabeth of England for her coronation.
Headdresses - hats - were a necessary adornment for every lady. The top of the hat is almost always small and flat. The hat could be either borderless or with very wide brims. Headdresses were decorated with feathers, flowers, a ribbon and a veil.

The head of the beautiful lady was crowned with a magnificent, carefully styled hairstyle or smoothly combed hair. If the lady's hair was not suitable for modern styling, but simply put, there were few of them, or they were thin and naughty, then false bangs or hairpieces came to the rescue. And the hat? She was always in a "new look" was a necessary decoration. But the scarf was also of great importance, which folded diagonally and tied around the neck, like in Grace Kelly.

The most important accessory of the New Look style was a wide belt that emphasized the waist, especially in those who had it indistinctly marked. But if the waist was thin, then tightening it even more, you could feel like Audrey Hepburn or Lyudmila Gurchenko.
And of course, gloves and a small handbag, which were often made of the same material as the dress, were a necessary accessory to complete the entire dress.

At that time, cosmetics were used quite seriously: high arches of dark and expressive eyebrows and brightly painted lips were especially emphasized ...
Gold chains, bracelets, round clips, pearl necklaces were very popular. In order for all women to beautify themselves, Christian Dior introduced jewelry made of rhinestones and beads into fashion. His strass necklace and smoky gray beads looked especially noble.
The embodiment of this image is the charming Audrey Hepburn. In Soviet films, the image of the “new look” is Lyudmila Gurchenko in “Carnival Night”.

In architecture, the “New Look” style was also found - both in the decoration of apartments and in household items. How did it look like? “Low tables, bowl-shaped armchairs, hourglass-like vases, conical lamps, tulip-shaped glasses - everything resembled the lines that came from New Direction.

Dior became the king of fashion and queens came to him. Among them were the most passionate admirers of the "New Direction" - Empress Soraya, Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergman, Rita Hayworth and many others.

Ask your grandmothers or maybe great-grandmothers, they will tell you about this style like this: "These are my favorite dresses." Or maybe she still has them, the very ones in which she was so young and so happy?

Christian Dior New Look style appeared in 1947 and existed until the early 60s, and if today, while visiting a vintage clothing store, you manage to find original dresses of that time in excellent condition, buy without hesitation - this is not just a purchase, but a real one. investment. Yes, yes, in fact, an investment, which I will discuss in more detail in upcoming publications.