If Kim Jones and Maria Grazia Chuiri manage today to create such a desirable fashion, it is because the founder of the house Dior had already envisioned it right. The flower woman, the Oblique, H, A lines and the Tulip line are now used for a sublime and cool seam.
La Femme-Fleur, Granville And Christian Dior’s New Look
Designer, costume designer for the theater, ballet or for Hollywood – Christian Dior, even before being the greatest fashion designer of the century, he already had in mind this ideal silhouette of the woman of the 20th century. It is that, in the aftermath of the Second World War, Dior looked at as one of the vital interests of restoring the woman to its beauty of yesteryear.
Where the horrors of two world wars had alienated romanticism and betrayed feminine elegance, Christian Dior intended to reset everything. February 12, 1947, Dior presented at the heart of 30 Avenue Montaigne its very first collection. 170 silhouettes advocating luxury and refinement, some of which were in leopard print.
This parade was divided into two themes. The first part, ‘Eight’, highlighted a wasp waist, shapely hips and a frankly exquisite silhouette. The second, entitled ‘Corolle’ was the one that went down in history. It was this theme that unveiled to the world the Dior manifesto: tight waist, bustier, and unprecedented surge of fabric footage. The tailor-bar is one of those silhouettes introduced in 1947.
“I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, open busts, thin waists like vines and wide skirts like corollas” later affirmed by Christian Dior. Meanwhile, fashion magazines had already found a name – “Such a New Look” exclaimed Carmel Snow, editor in chief of American Vogue.
The April 1, 1947 issue, it reads: “If there could be a composite, mythical woman dressed by a mythical and composite designer, she would probably wear her skirt about 14 inches from the ground; He could have, for his working model, a flower: petals of padding and stiffening seen under the cut of the skirt. In other words, she would wear the New Look silhouette introduced by Dior in its first collection, the most emblematic example including the Bar suit.”
Dior lines drawn from these hours spent in his mother’s rose garden in Granville, Dior retained the elegance and poetry of flowers. With an eye worked on by architecture, Christian Dior also brings the corolla line into fashion – these flowers which will never cease to inspire his creation.
Here, Dior poses as a slayer of the figurehead of the 20s: the intrepid Garçonne, waist at the hips, elegant androgynous, embodied among others by Louise Brooks. Which bristled deeply Mademoiselle Chanel, who came out of his retirement for a last boost.
In 1956, Grace Kelly was seen with the tailor Bar. In doing so, she did not invent anything – the look of Christian Dior was already everywhere. Moreover, decades later, each talent in the artistic direction of the house worked like an absolute masterpiece.
John Galiano, with the most iconic version in 2008, for the Haute Couture collection. Raf Simons, too, who made the tailor Bar and his Corolle line a red thread, or recently Maria Grazia Chuiri. Three different visions, one icon with timeless elegance – that’s Dior luxury.
Oblique and Tulipe Chez Dior, Lines In Motion
Fall/Winter 1950-1951. The Oblique collection from the house of Dior introduced a couture complication that soon became legion. The designer was once again rethinking the silhouette around the movement. It must be said that Dior, then gallery owner, was one of the first to organize solo exhibitions of Salvador Dali in 1931, then that of Calder and Giacometto in 1932.
Little wonder then to see him introduce sewing this idea of the inverted line. The Oblique line further emphasizes the delicacy of women. Besides, this photo of Richard Avedon capturing the divine Dovima in the ‘Ambuscade’ set of the Oblique collection sums everything up! The panache and elegance of such audacity. Crazy subtlety and simplicity.
So, when Kim Jones takes up the principle for Dior Homme, during his Spring / Summer 2019 fashion show, we can see how it magnifies the iconic Dior costume. A flagship model now.
The Tulip line follows a slightly different principle. Born in 1953 as the combination of the profile line of previous seasons, it was one of Christian Dior’s favorites. The bust still blossomed, the skirts slightly swollen, it draws from its 18th century fascination the agreement of its silhouette. But soon, Christian Dior turned to more natural lines.
The Search for Natural, Lines H and A
The times have changed. Dior now wants to satisfy the wardrobe of elegant moderns – women are becoming more and more active, and the lines must follow.
“By stylizing the extent of certain models from the Spring/Summer 1955 collection and leaving the size games free, I isolated the letter A which itself succeeded the letter H of the previous one. But each collection is made up of a wide variety of theses and no letter of the alphabet – A, H, Y alone is capable of embodying them all, ”explained the designer.
Month accentuated, the line H releases “an entirely different line based on the length and the thinning of the bust: it is on the parallels which form the letter H, all in height, that dresses, suits and coats are built” by the very definition of Dior.
Meanwhile, Line A, offers the elongated bust and extended by basques, framed horizontally by a belt. Serving a free and refined look, line A was often cut around the addition of a knot which, by yoke, emphasized its horizontality.
Two lines so emblematic of luxury and the allure of the house of Dior that Maria Grazia Chuiri made them the standard of her fashion. Many of these exquisite and light toilets benefit from this couture created almost 65 years ago. What certifies the eternal beauty of Dior women.