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July 5, 2017

Dior Celebrates Its 70th With a New Exhibition

By Sarah Moroz

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Photo: © 2013 Mark Shaw

As the opulence of the fall/winter couture season swirls around Paris in real time, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is celebrating Dior’s 70th anniversary with a lavish exhibition. Over 300 gowns, designed between 1947 and the present day, are juxtaposed against fashion photographs, original sketches, loaned artwork, and key accessories across a richly themed layout.

The show opens with a presentation of Christian Dior’s life, running through his comfortable childhood in Normandy and his training as a fashion illustrator for Claude Saint-Cyr in the late 1930s and the illustrious Lucien Lelong in the 1940s. When he launched his own couture label in February 1947, Dior revamped the female silhouette with his “New Look” spring/summer collection — so dubbed after an offhand compliment by Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow.

The museum put on its party hat for other Dior designers as well. The show traces the label’s enduring nature across the six artistic directors who carried on the couturier’s legacy after his sudden death in 1957, and indeed built up the label’s influence through their respective eras. This lineage is carefully examined in the exhibition, unspooling from the risqué choices of 21-year-old Yves Saint Laurent, followed by Marc Bohan’s more straitlaced sense of classicism, to the architectural stravaganza of Gianfranco Ferré, to the hallucinatory flamboyance of “enfant terrible” John Galliano, to the pointed anti-drama of Raf Simons and, most recently, into the freshly ordained hands of Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Before turning to fashion, Dior ran a gallery (1928–1934) in partnership with friends; he frequented then-up-and-coming artists including Giacometti, Dalí, and Jean Cocteau. Marc Chagall signed one of Dior’s guest books (“Dior, grand artiste”), and the expressionist Bernard Buffet painted his portrait in 1954 (which Dior hung in his apartment). The designer loved antiques and objets d’art, and drew on these as inspiration for the décor of his private residences and his couture designs.

The exhibition concludes in a sumptuous high-ceilinged ballroom setting, with exquisite evening gowns creating a fever dream of petaled and draped and cinched silhouettes in tulle, satin, paillettes, silk, faille, beading, Swarovski crystals. (The sequin-embroidered 1949 Haute Couture Junon gown, as its centerpiece, leaves one positively agog.) A mirrored back wall reflects not only the twinkling ensembles, but the maison’s multifaceted, prismatic nature.

“Christian Dior, Couturier du Rêve” on view July 5, 2017–January 7, 2018 at 107 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris.

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1 / 16 Photos
Christian Dior, Junon gown, fall-winter 1949 Haute Couture, Milieu du siècle line. Long crinoline evening dress embroidered with sequins by R&e... Christian Dior, Junon gown, fall-winter 1949 Haute Couture, Milieu du siècle line. Long crinoline evening dress embroidered with sequins by Rébé, Paris, Dior Héritage © Photo Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope. Photo: Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope
Christian Dior, Opéra Bouffe gown, fall-winter 1956 Haute Couture, Aimant line. Short evening gown in silk faille by Abraham, Paris, Dior H&eac... Christian Dior, Opéra Bouffe gown, fall-winter 1956 Haute Couture, Aimant line. Short evening gown in silk faille by Abraham, Paris, Dior Héritage © Photo Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope. Photo: Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope
John Galliano for Christian Dior, Shéhérazade ensemble, spring-summer 1998 Haute Couture. Evening ensemble, Ballets Russes–inspired kimo... John Galliano for Christian Dior, Shéhérazade ensemble, spring-summer 1998 Haute Couture. Evening ensemble, Ballets Russes–inspired kimono, pyramid line with large silk velvet funnel collar, appliqué décor, embroidery, and incrustation of Swarovski crystals. Long double-satin sheath dress, Paris, Dior Héritage © Photo Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope. Photo: Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope
Raf Simons for Christian Dior, fall-winter 2012 Haute Couture. Three-quarter-length yellow duchess satin evening dress with Sterling Ruby SP178 shadow... Raf Simons for Christian Dior, fall-winter 2012 Haute Couture. Three-quarter-length yellow duchess satin evening dress with Sterling Ruby SP178 shadow print, Paris, Dior Héritage, © Photo Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope.  Photo: Les Arts Décoratifs / Nicholas Alan Cope
Mark Shaw, Elizabeth Taylor in the Soirée à Rio dress, spring-summer 1961 Haute Couture collection, Slim Look © Mark Shaw / mptvima... Mark Shaw, Elizabeth Taylor in the Soirée à Rio dress, spring-summer 1961 Haute Couture collection, Slim Look © Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com.  Photo: © 2013 Mark Shaw
Soirée brillante dress, fall-winter 1955 Haute Couture collection, Y line, presented at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs during the ... Soirée brillante dress, fall-winter 1955 Haute Couture collection, Y line, presented at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs during the inauguration of the exhibition "Grands ébénistes et menuisiers parisiens du XVIIIe siècle", Paris, November 30, 1955 © Roger-Viollet. Photo: © Roger-Viollet
Patrick Demarchelier, Natalia Vodianova poses with Dior’s craftspeople in front of 30 Avenue Montaigne in a dress from the fall-winter 2008 Haute Cout... Patrick Demarchelier, Natalia Vodianova poses with Dior’s craftspeople in front of 30 Avenue Montaigne in a dress from the fall-winter 2008 Haute Couture collection, Vogue U.S., October 2008 © Patrick Demarchelier / Conde Nast / Viva Model Management. Photo: COPYRIGHT ©2008 THE COND… NAST PUBLICATIONS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Peter Lindbergh, Kusudi and Kitu dresses, spring-summer 1997 Haute Couture collection, models Kiara Kabukuru and Debra Shaw © Peter Lindbergh.
Arik Nepo, dress from the fall-winter 1948 Haute Couture collection, Ailée line, Vogue Paris, October 1948 © Arik Nepo / Vogue Paris.
Dorothy + Little Bara with a cello, Paris 1960 by William Klein. Moderato Cantabile dress, fall-winter 1960 Haute Couture collection. Souple... Dorothy + Little Bara with a cello, Paris 1960 by William Klein. Moderato Cantabile dress, fall-winter 1960 Haute Couture collection. Souplesse, légèreté, vie line, Vogue U.S., September 15, 1960, models Dorothy McGowan and Little Bara © William Klein.
Fly Dior by Melvin Sokolsky. Dorothy McGowan in a dress from the spring‑summer 1965 Haute Couture collection, Harper’s Bazaar, March 1965 © ... Fly Dior by Melvin Sokolsky. Dorothy McGowan in a dress from the spring‑summer 1965 Haute Couture collection, Harper’s Bazaar, March 1965 © Melvin Sokolsky.
Eugene Kammerman, model Renée Breton at the fashion show in the large salon at 30 Avenue Montaigne, 1953 © Eugène Kammerman / Gamma... Eugene Kammerman, model Renée Breton at the fashion show in the large salon at 30 Avenue Montaigne, 1953 © Eugène Kammerman / Gamma-Rapho. Photo: Eugène KAMMERMAN/GAMMA-RAPHO
Cecil Beaton, Daisy Fellowes wearing a Dior dress at a ball hosted by Charles de Beistegui at the Palais Labia in Venice, September 3, 1951, Vogue Par... Cecil Beaton, Daisy Fellowes wearing a Dior dress at a ball hosted by Charles de Beistegui at the Palais Labia in Venice, September 3, 1951, Vogue Paris, September 1951 © Cecil Beaton / Vogue Paris. Photo: Condé Nast
Henri Cartier-Bresson, model Alla having the May dress fitted before the fashion show, 1953 © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos. Photo: ©... Henri Cartier-Bresson, model Alla having the May dress fitted before the fashion show, 1953 © Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos. Photo: ©Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos
Elliott Erwitt, Grace Kelly wearing a white satin Dior dress at a ball celebrating her engagement with Prince Rainier of Monaco at the Waldorf Astoria... Elliott Erwitt, Grace Kelly wearing a white satin Dior dress at a ball celebrating her engagement with Prince Rainier of Monaco at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, January 6, 1956 © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos. Photo: ©Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos
Christian Dior in his apartment at 7 Boulevard Jules‑Sandeau in Paris, ca. 1950 © Christian Dior.
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