Art was the meaning of life for Christian Dior. He abandoned his political career for his favorite cause. The life of Christian Dior, the founder of the famous haute couture house, was short. His flourishing work as a fashion designer lasted only 10 years, but it was thanks to his latest collections that Paris managed to regain the title of "world fashion capital."
Childhood and youth Christian Dior
Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905 in Granville, in a bourgeois family with Norman roots, which he was proud of throughout his life. His father was the heir and owner of several fertilizer and chemical factories. From an early age, the boy was instilled with a taste of exquisite things, which his mother influenced to a greater extent. Dior was the second of five children. At the age of five, their parents decided to move to Paris, but they still repeatedly returned to Normandy.
The boy's parents expressed a desire for their son to connect his life with political activity and the career of a diplomat. But Christian showed artistic talent by sketching and selling them for 10 cents. The father put up with the choice of his son and even allowed him to leave school and open a small gallery for the exhibition of works by Christian and his friend. Christian was also interested in architecture.
Dior met the artist Christian Berar. Finding his work inspiring, he hung paintings in his room.
The Dior family soon suffered a series of misfortunes. First, Christian's sibling became ill with a mental disorder, from which he died, and then his beloved mother died of grief. Then in 1931, Christian's father invested all his savings in real estate, but suffered a complete financial collapse in a few days. The gallery also had to close.
In the years 1934-35, he fell ill with tuberculosis. Christian was in need of money. Friends helped him out by paying for one of the health resorts to restore health. After recovering, Christian returned to work on sketching for one of the fashion magazines.
Career Christian Dior
In 1938, Robert Piquet invited him to work as a fashion designer, to which Christian gladly agreed. But in 1940, Dior joined the ranks of the French army. Two years later, he met with Pierre Balmen, a famous French fashion designer who supported the novice couturier.
Christian Dior did not have the necessary technical education, so designers usually learn the complete process from sketching to sewing clothes. Dior, on the other hand, simply had his own vision, allowing him to generate ideas that were embodied in reality by studio workers.
Christian Dior's first success in the fashion world
At 42, Dior finally got his own Fashion House. The entrepreneur of textile products Marcel Boussac helped him a lot in this. It was a very small building, in which repairs were going on. Christian Dior surrounded himself with quality staff and reliable employees, the total number of which reached 85. They inspired him with their enthusiasm and strongly supported him. On February 12, 1947, the Christian Dior Fashion House was opened, but this happened in some confusion: just before the opening, I urgently had to run to buy an iron.
The style of Christina Dior made a splash in the world of fashion. In the post-war years, there was an economic crisis in France, which was reflected in the shortage of many goods, including good fabric. However, Dior allowed to put into fashion skirts that became 30 cm longer, which means that almost 30% more fabric was used for sewing skirts, and they cost more at prices. In his sketches, Dior combined two styles: nostalgic, feminine pre-war and modern, full of something new and unusual. Christian Dior was an opponent of a revolution in the fashion world, on the contrary, he adhered to traditional views against the backdrop of new trends of the time.
On the day of his first fashion show, Dior was very worried. He was worried about how invited guests and the world as a whole would perceive his work. However, the couturier’s concern was not justified: after the release of the first fashion model, the audience greeted the model with applause.
They decided to transfer the success from the show of collections to the commercial one, America was chosen as the main market for the sale of clothes. Every six months, Dior’s fashion collection has changed. He had a very demanding character in the work, pointing out all the shortcomings or comments with his cane.
"When I create dresses - these are objects of my architecture, designed to glorify the proportions of the female body, " said Dior.
Christian Dior considered perfume to be the perfect ending to a perfect female look. Therefore, along with work on collections, he devoted a lot of time to produce his own perfume line.
In the spring of 1954, the Fashion House occupied 5 buildings with 28 workshops and a staff of 1, 000 people. 8 branches and 6 subsidiaries operated under the Christian Dior brand in different parts of the world.
