Christian Dior — The “New Look” Revolutionary
DIOR’s NEW LOOK — 1940–1950
A Post War Turning Point in Fashion history-
Christian Dior is a French luxury fashion brand founded in 1946 by Christian Dior. The company has expanded from its beginnings to produce leather goods, ready-to-wear, accessories, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, fragrance, make-up, skincare products and haute-couture. Divisions of the company include: Christian Dior Parfums, Christian Dior Cosmetics, and Dior Homme.
Fashion history and costume history In 1947 Christian Dior presented a fashion look with a fitted jacket with a nipped in waist and full calf length skirt. It was a dramatic change from wartime austerity styles. After the rationing of fabric during the Second World War, Dior’s lavish use of material was a bold and shocking stroke. His style used yards and yards of fabric. Approximately 10 yards was used for early styles. Later Dior used up to 80 yards for newer refinements that eliminated bulk at the waist.
The New Look and new approach to fashion was a major post war turning point in Fashion History.
“I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape.”
Dior launched the first fashion collection for the company, featuring two lines, called “Corolle” and “Huit”. In the fashion world, this show was referred to as the “New Look” and it forever changed fashion. The emergence of the Dior brand allowed Paris to recapture its claim as the fashion capital of the world.
In 1950, the Dior brand’s general manager, Jacques Rouët, instituted a licensing program that applied the Dior brand name to hosiery, furs, neckties, hats, gloves, handbags, jewelry, scarves, and lingerie. At the time, there was some resistance to a haute-couture brand divesting in these other ventures, but it soon became the standard of all haute-couture brands.
“Deep in every heart slumbers a dream, and the couturier knows it: every woman is a princess.”
Dior’s New Look of 1947 and the design called Bar.-
Dior’s timing made his name in fashion history. After the war women longed for frivolity in dress and desired feminine clothes that did not look like a civilian version of a military uniform. Life magazine dubbed Dior’s Corolle line the New Look in 1947. Evening versions of the New Look were very glamorous and consisted of strapless boned tops with full skirts and were ultra feminine.
“Women, with their sure instincts, realized that my intention was to make them not just more beautiful but also happier.”
The shaped fitted jacket Dior designed with his New Look full skirt was also teamed with a straight mid calf length skirt. Women usually wore just underwear beneath the buttoned up jacket, or filled in the neckline with a satin foulard head scarf, dickey or bib.
By the time of the fashion house’s 10th anniversary, it had sold more than 100,000 garments and was bringing in an annual revenue of $20 million. Christian Dior was a global phenomenon, appearing on the cover of TIME on March 4th, 1957.
Dior’s designs from the “New Look” did not only affect the designers in the 1950s, but still some of the newer designers we know from now in the 2000s, including Thom Browne, Miuccia Prada, and Vivienne Westwood. Dior’s evening dresses from that time are still referred to by many designers, and they have been seen in different wedding themed catwalks with multiple layers of fabric building up below the small waist (Jojo, 2011). Examples include Vivienne Westwood’s Ready-to-Wear Fall/Winter 2011 and Alexander McQueen’s Ready to Wear Fall/Winter 2011 (Jojo, 2011).[21]
