Though the Dior brand was founded on ideals of feminine beauty and classic, timeless fashion, over decades, it has evolved into bold, feminist, and powerful designs. Ahead, learn about the history of Dior and how the brand grew into what it is today.
The French brand, which dates back to the 1940s, has been providing customers all over the world with some of the most beautiful garments, whether it’s a ready-to-wear dress fit for a cocktail party, or a haute couture, red carpet gown that will command the attention of everyone in the room.
Christian Dior’s eponymous brand is also one that has stood the test of time, evolving with each creative leader that has walked through its doors. The fashion house has hosted some of the most incredible talent in the industry and will surely continue to do so for years to come.
Where and When Christian Dior Began
Despite being created in 1946, the Dior brand claims 1947 as its beginning year because that’s when the fashion house’s first collection debuted. Christian Dior started the brand in Paris at 30 Avenue Montaigne. It took less than three months from the brand’s creation to show its first collection on Feb. 12, 1947.
Dior had a deep love of art and ran an art gallery in France before going into fashion. After closing his gallery during the Great Depression, he worked under fashion designer Robert Piguet and then-couturier Lucien Lelong. Dior was ready for his own work to be showcased though, which is what brought him to create his own fashion house in 1946, and Christian Dior was born.
Dior’s New Look
It was at Dior’s very first show that he coined the “New Look.” The thought behind the collection was to showcase the end of World War II, according to Culture Trip, and it came with structured silhouettes, cinched waists, and shorter, billowy skirts. The garments were opulent, each dress using an average of 20 yards of fabric. Dior’s designs were revolutionary for the time period and quickly put the fashion house on the map as one of the most sought after and adored.
Stars flocked to Christian Dior; everyone from Rita Hayworth to Margot Fonteyn wanted outfit themselves in this New Look that was ahead of its time. With such high-profile women donning his clothes, the brand grew quickly and cemented itself as one of the most iconic in sartorial history.
