The Dior Tailleur Bar Spring/Summer 2016

A brand without a creative director is no inconsequential matter. Serge Ruffieux and Lucie Meier, who’ve taken over on an interim basis, therefore wasted no time in diving into the heart of Monsieur Dior’s archives to maintain the brand’s post-modern couture allure as initiated to perfection by Raf Simons. The gardens of the Musée Rodin served then as the theatre for this collection that was presented under the auspices of luck and superstition.

Like an hommage to Christian Dior’s taste for innovation and constant search for new shapes, the work of Ruffieux and Meier revolves around embroideries, cuts, and décolletés that are all rigorously worked with the greatest of virtuosity in the brand’s ateliers. Not limited to just bare shoulders and offset décolletés, Monsieur Dior’s love of nature was also incarnated in flowers, insects, and other flora and fauna that burst forth in a neo-couture movement by way of a draped or straight-cut jacket.
It’s in this vein that the Tailleur Bar was completely reinvented. The press communiqué alludes to “Rethinking the particular architecture of the Bar jacket, to expose the back while marking the waist, or to relieve the shoulders while securing the outfit at the sleeves and the bust.” The jacket does indeed gain in desirability as the extra-long sleeves are pegged out to multiply the sensuousness of each gesture. Made of natural wool and embroidered with lily stems, one of Christian Dior’s favorite flowers, the Bar jacket imposes itself before our very eyes with a soft, free, but nuanced attitude.

 

 

Dior Lily-of-the-valley: Key dates

1940s : Together with the beloved rose, Dior is passionate for the Lily of the valley too. He wears it as a garment on his suits and since his debut Lily of the valley becomes one of the distinctive traits of the maison Dior.

1954 : Christian Dior celebrates Lily of the Valley, in French «Muguet», by naming that year’s Spring/Summer collection precisely like his beloved flower.

1956 : Together with the master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, he creates «Diorissimo», a fragrance with an intense central note of Lily. 

1956 : Christian Dior creates a dress finely embroidered with Lilies of the valley and rhinestones. The dress will appear in the movie «Paris Palace Hotel».

1957 : Christian Dior designs the iconic dress «The muguet», as a part of the new collection «Libre».

1959 : Thanks to Roger Vivier Lilies of the valley make their first appearance on Dior’s shoes.

1957 – 2000 : Even after Dior’s death, lily of the valley becomes an iconic symbol of the maison. Across three decades Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan and Gianfranco Ferrè, will keep the creator’s beloved flower at the centre of their collections.

2000s : Dior’s interest for lily of the valley finds expression in many luxury segments. From the interior design and tableware, up to men’s apparels and to the shop window’s design. Baby Dior makes a wide use of lilies of the valley as well as the Dior baccarat crystal pieces created to decorate the house.

2000s : Along its history Dior has celebrated many times lilies of the valley through jewels. But Victoire de Castellane moves a step further, by dedicating some unique and precious masterpieces to this flower.

2007 : For the Winter Fall John Galliano pays tribute to Dior’s Lilies of the valley, by renewing in his own style an iconic Dior vintage black dress. Gisele Bundchen wears an iconic Dior brooch from the fifties inspired to Lily of the valley.

2012 : On the occasion of the 1° of May, the Dior maison pays tribute to the iconic model «Muguet», with a virtual event dedicated to the famous evening dress from the 1957 Spring/Summer Haute Couture catwalk.

2014 : With the Winter Fall Raf Simons turns Lilies of the valley into a motif for men, to the extent that coats, pulls and suits are covered in flowers. The event itself is played around the flower: guests are welcomed with a bunch of lilies and a short brochure explaining its importance for the maison.

2016 : Maria Grazia Chiuri celebrates lily of the valley with an hand stitched dress finely embroidered with pearls and precious materials.