Christian Dior

Christian Dior has gone down in history as the creator of the New Look. Late in 1946, at the age of 41, the shy designer resigned from his position at Lelong and opened his own couture house. Within less than three months, he had designed and produced his much-anticipated first collection, which was shown on February 12, 1947. Afterwards, Carmel Snow, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, rushed to congratulate Dior on his sensational success. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian,” she said. “Your dresses have such a new look.” The expression caught on, and Dior’s Corolla collection was effectively renamed.

Looking back, Dior recalled, “We came from an epoch of war and uniforms, with women like soldiers with boxers’ shoulders. I designed flower women, soft shoulders, full busts, waists as narrow as lianas and skirts as corollas.” Fashion is always about change and novelty, but Dior’s 1947 collection marked an especially dramatic and influential transition, away from the boxy jackets and short narrow skirts of the war years, and towards a look of hyper-femininity based on an hourglass figure and long, full skirts.

For the next decade, Dior would dominate Paris fashion and, by extension, the entire world of women’s fashion. Almost every season, for ten years, Dior would launch a new silhouette, such as the Oblique, the Scissors, the Tulip line, the Y-line, the H-line, and the A-line. In addition to his extraordinary evening dresses, he made his mark with cocktail dresses. Although his style was usually extremely feminine, he also spearheaded the use of traditional menswear materials, such as hounds tooth patterns and grey flannel. Although Balenciaga was revered by connoisseurs as “fashion’s Picasso,” Dior was the most famous and successful designer in the world. In 1949, 75% of Parisian fashion exports were by Dior. In one of her letters, Nancy Mitford recalled a Frenchman saying: “I’ve been a member of the Jockey Club for forty years, and I’ve never heard anyone mention the name of a couturier—and now, all of a sudden, everybody is talking about nothing but Dior.”

After Christian Dior’s sudden death on October 23, 1957, Yves Saint Laurent took over at the House of Dior. He was followed in due course by Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Bill Gaytten, and Raf Simons. In 2016, Maria Grazia Chiuri was named creative director of women's haute couture, ready-to-wear, and accessories collections for Dior.