Christian Dior – Biography of Christian Dior

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Christian dior He was born on January 21, 1905 in Granville, a coastal city in northern France. He was the second of five children of Alexandre Louis Maurice Dior, owner of a successful fertilizer factory, and his wife, Isabelle. When he was a child, the family moved to Paris, where he would spend his youth. Even if Dior passionate about art and interested in becoming an architect, he submitted to pressure from his father and, in 1925, enrolled at the École des Sciences Politiques to begin his studies in political science, with the intention of eventually pursuing a diplomatic career .

After his graduation in 1928, however, Dior He opened a small art gallery with the money he received from his father, who had agreed to lend his son financial support on the condition that the last name did not appear on the gallery door. In the few years it was open, the gallery of Dior handled the works of such notable artists as Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, and Max Jacob. Yet he was forced to close it in 1931, a year in which his older brother and mother died, and his father’s business collapsed financially.

After the closure of his gallery, he began to cover his expenses by selling his fashion sketches, and in 1935 he got a job illustrating the magazine Figaro Illustré. Several years later, Dior He was hired as a design assistant by Paris couturier Robert Piguet. However, when World War II began the following year, Dior served in southern France as an officer in the French army.

After France’s surrender to Germany in 1940, he returned to Paris, where he was soon hired by couturier Lucien Lelong. Throughout the remaining years of war, Lelong’s design house would consistently dress women from both the Nazis and the French collaborators. During that same time, the younger sister of DiorCatherine worked for the French Resistance. (She was captured and sent to a concentration camp, but survived and was finally released in 1945.)

In 1947, backed by French businessman Marcel Boussac, Dior introduced the revolutionary New Look, stimulating international controversy over its radically reduced hem. The style featured small shoulders, a chiseled waist, and a voluminous skirt, a drastic departure from the usual outfits used during WWII.

The sudden sensation of New Look it was followed by 10 years of exceptional success. In the 1950s, Dior introduced a variety of new silhouettes, including the H line, the A line, and the Y line. It was also instrumental in the commercialization of Parisian fashion around the world and in reclaiming the ground lost by Parisian couturiers at the hands of the American designers.

In 1957, several months after appearing on the cover of Time magazine, Christian dior He traveled to Italy to take a vacation in the city of Montecatini. While there, on October 23, 1957, he suffered what was his third heart attack and died, at the age of 52.

Marcel Boussac sent his private plane to Montecatini to carry the body of Dior In Paris, his funeral was attended by some 2,500 people, including his entire staff and many of his most famous clients. He was buried at Cimetière de Callian, in Var, France. At the time of his death, the House of Dior was making more than $ 20 million a year.

After the death of Dior In 1957, his assistant Yves Saint Laurent took over the haute couture house. Saint Laurent held this position until 1960, when he was drafted into the French army. Subsequent creative directors at the House of Dior have included Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, and John Galliano.