Christian Dior
Christian Dior was born in Normandy, France on 21 January 1905, and died of a heart attack in Montecatini, Italy on 23 October 1957. His parents steered him towards studying politics as their hopes were for him to take a diplomatic career. However, Dior was only interested in the arts, and his initial career was to open a small art gallery in 1928, which was financed by his father. Works by Picasso and Max Jacob were sold from his gallery, but Dior was forced to take employment when his father faced financial disaster and lost his business. Dior then worked with Robert Piguet in 1938 and later joined the fashion house where, along with Pierre Balmain, Dior was the primary designer. It wasn’t until 1945 that Christian Dior went into business by himself, and the first Dior fashion house opened in December 1946.
Being the post-war era, Dior’s designs went away from the fabric conserving outfits that had been the norm over the last few years. Gone was the boxy look, and in came the voluptuous corseted wasp-waisted flouncy skirts that made women look curvaceous again.
Dior boutiques can be found as far afield as London, New York, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Barcelona, Boston and Hong Kong to name a few. A song entitled ‘ Christian Dior’ was released by Morrissey as a b-side to his single ‘In the future, when all’s well’ in 2006.
