There are very few couture houses with as storied a history and legacy as Christian Dior. From its debut in 1947, and the subsequent game-changing New Look silhouette, the house has come to stand for a French pinnacle of style and sophistication.
Now that the house is 70 years in and, indeed, seven designers in, it’s high time to look back and celebrate all the work and beauty that has come out of the house of Dior. This comes in the form of a series of coffee table books published by Assoulin, with words by famed fashion curator and historian Olivier Saillard, and photographs by Laziz Hamani.
The books will be split by designers, starting from Monsieur Dior himself (1947 to 1957); Yves Saint Laurent, who took up the mantle after starting his career as an assistant to Christian Dior (1958 to 1960); Marc Bohan, whose skinny silhouette modernized the codes of the house for an three decades (1960 to 1989); Gianfranco Ferre, who danced with the glamour and excesses of the 80s and 90s; John Galliano, who historically marked being one of the first young punk British designers entrusted with a grande dame of French fashion (1996 to 2011); Raf Simons, who injected hypodermically a shot of modernity and futurism to the house (2012 to 2015); to Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Italian designer who’s headed Dior since 2016.
It’s amazing to see the number of hallmark dresses and designs that have come out of each designer’s tenure – though it is interesting to note that Monsieur Dior’s was in fact one of the shortest at just 10 years. What this suggests is that, though we regard its founder and history as near-mythic, the house of Dior we know today is very much a continuing work of artistic and creative interpretation.
The first two volumes (Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent) are already published, with the Marc Bohan edition going to print in April 2018. Expect the rest of the series to come out slowly – like a test of patience and time. Much like the house of Dior has shown it can endure, with the help of some creative brilliance of course.