Christian DIOR

Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905, in the small town of Granville, in Normandy. His well-to-do parents moved the family to Paris when he was five, and there, Christian Dior went to college and studied post-graduate Political Science, making many friends in intellectual and artistic circles. In 1928, this would-be architect who later remarked, ‘(I was) prevented by my family and circumstances from ever gratifying this passion,’ opened a contemporary art gallery showcasing the works of Chirico, Utrillo, Braque, Fernand Léger and the paintings of friends Max Jacob and Christian Bérard.

The 1929 stock market crash ruined the Dior family finances and those too of Dior’s business partner. In 1935, he started selling fashion sketches to various Parisian Couture Houses and illustrated the fashion pages of the Figaro newspaper, a talent which led to him being hired as a designer – first for the house of Robert Piguet in 1938 and then, Lucien Lelong in 1941. Five years later, textile tycoon Marcel Boussac decided the finance Christian Dior’s own Couture House, purchasing the gracious mansions at 30, Avenue Montaigne which is still the home to the house of Dior.

The actual name of the line of his first collection, presented in early 1947, was Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English), but the phrase New Look was coined for it by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar. Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles, influenced by the rations on fabric. He was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes; Dior is quoted as saying "I have designed flower women." His look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist, giving his models a very curvaceous form. The hem of the skirt was very flattering on the calves and ankles, creating a beautiful silhouette. Initially, women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior's designs form due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit—during one photo shoot in a Paris market, the models were attacked by female vendors over the profligacy of their dresses—but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The New Look revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the center of the fashion world after World War II.

By his untimely death of the age of 1957 at the age of 52, Dior counted among his high-profile cilents women as stylish & diverse Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Ava Garnder, The Duchess of Windsor & Eva Peron & was remarkable on the world fashion stage as on of it's adventurous & prescient players.

I looked & found these "NEW LOCK" Video's from Dior just for the ladies haha
pretty dope, enjoy!