The Dior fashion brand
The world-famous Christian Dior brand is used for clothing, accessories, watches, cosmetics, perfumes and mobile phones. The unique style proposed by the designer ensured the products’ consumer demand and endless interest.
Start of
The founder of the fashion house was born in Granville in 1905. Christian Dior’s father was a successful businessman and moved his family to Paris in 1911 to expand his business.
His parents forced the young Christian to enter a school of political science, but he refused to become a diplomat and opened an art gallery three years later. His life of prosperity ended with the death of his parents. The gallery proved to be less profitable.
The young man then recalled an old fortune-teller’s prophecy, promising him wealth thanks to women. The words that seemed like nonsense, began to come true: the sale of sketches of women’s hats and dresses marked the beginning of the history of the legendary House of Dior.
Further development
In 1941 the talented man was invited to work at Lucien Lelong’s fashion house. At the same time Christian opened his own perfume shop Christian Dior Perfume. In 1946 he opened the famous Christian Dior fashion house.
A year later the Parisians were presented with the first collection in the New look style that stroke the post-war France with its original concept, femininity and romance.
The designer liked to work with a calm colour range and used grey, white, black, smoky and beige fabrics for his clothes. Dresses were decorated with modest embroidery.
In 1947 a perfume line was opened, with the first products being Miss Dior, Diorama and Diorissimo fragrances.
Brand promotion
Four inimitable collections released in the early ’50s introduced basque jackets, puffed skirts, pumps shoes and lace lingerie to the fashion world.
In 1955 the Bijoux jewellery line was launched.
Co-authorship with seventeen-year-old Yves Saint Laurent in ’56-57 resulted in four more collections with unusual silhouettes: A, H, Y.
Christian Dior passed away in 1957. By that time brand boutiques had opened in many countries: the USA, England, Cuba, Chile, Australia.
A new history
From 1957 to 1960 the management of the Christian Dior house was taken over by Yves Saint Laurent. He presented a trapeze-shaped collection of women’s clothing which was radically different from the idea of the brand’s founder.
A second collection featuring cropped motorbike jackets and turtleneck sweaters instead of the usual blouses angered the fashion house’s investors. Saint Laurent was asked to leave Christian Dior.
Marc Bohan took over as head of the company for the next 28 years. The designer focused on everyday models for real women, not mannequins. This led to a decline in interest in the brand.
Gianfranco Ferré took over in 1989 and returned to the inimitable style of the fashion house. But his resounding success over the next seven years prompted him to set up his own business. After him, Dior was headed by John Galliano and Raf Simons.
In 2016, they were succeeded by Maria Grazia Chiuri, who retained Christian Dior’s core concept while adding a note of dynamism that was highly appreciated by the energetic crowd.