“The trees that are slow to grow
bear the best fruit”
— Molière
At the height of the Roman Empire the expression “all roads lead to Rome” expressed the centrality and supremacy of the empire’s capital. Paris has long had a reputation as the supreme capital of fashion. In the world of fashion it can be said that all design careers lead to, through, around and from the house of Dior. It seems that almost every established name in the world of fashion design (fabrics, clothing, trimmings, shoes and hats) worked with or for Dior during his life and since. It took Christian Dior 40 years to settle on his metier (see Dior part one here) and his path touched on a Who’s Who of talented designers that changed our relationship with fashion and style; influence which continues to this day. But before his Maison could bear fruit, it had to be established.
Throughout challenges and setbacks beginning with the worldwide depression that broke the wealth of his family, his own business failures and dead end career attempts, WWII and required military service, poverty and illness that constantly interrupted his life, Dior continued to sketch fashion designs. His talent and creativity was finally recognized and Lucien Lelong hired him in 1932, when Dior was 37 years old. A year later Dior moved to Robert Piguet’s Maison (himself a former student of Lelong). He remained there until 1941 when WWII once again interrupted his budding career.
Dior returned to Paris after the war in 1945 and rejoined Lucien Lelong where he worked alongside Pierre Balmain, Pierre Cardin, Jacques Fath and Giorgio Di Sant’Angelo. Dior and Balmain had a friendly rivalry and when Balmain needed financial help to start his own Maison, it was Dior who stepped in with the needed funds.
Witness to Balmain’s success, Dior began to think of setting up his own Maison. In doing so he had to consider and balance many competing goals. It forced him to define a business strategy that was compatible with his philosophy that the “true function of couture” was “clothing women and enhancing their beauty.” He understood the competing needs for artistic freedom and marketability, the requirement for a unique brand identity that fused the French mystique of chic with international acceptance and, perhaps most of all, the importance of fashion as a national economic interest in the rebuilding of France.
J. W. Anderson for Dior 2026
He had offers to join established couturiers and another from Marcel Boussac, a wealthy fabric industrialist who offered funding to Dior to establish his own atelier. As he contemplated these options, Dior, walking along the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, looked down and saw a metal star. The very superstitious Dior decided this was a sign to start his own Maison (the star often is found incorporated into Dior designs to this day). He accepted financial backing from Boussac and the rest, as they say, is history. With Boussac managing the finances, Dior was free to create. His first show in 1947 was hailed as a total success and is still known for his “New Look.” It signaled a departure from the boxy, unfeminine silhouettes of the war years with shaped female bodies, full skirts and often featuring romantic and delicate floral motifs. Dior himself stated, “I created flower women, the women who wear flowers, or who are flowers in themselves.” He believed his success was because he “brought back the neglected art of pleasing.”
Dior was, perhaps, slow to grow into his own, but the fruit of his vision and creativity still produces some of the world’s most forward and best designs.
Roger Vivier
Stephen Jones
- Lucien Lelong
- Robert Piguet
- Pierre Cardin
- Pierre Balmain
- Cristóbal Balenciaga
- John Galliano
- Gianfranco Ferré
- Karl Lagerfeld
- Raf Simons
- Hedi Slimane
- Roger Vivier (shoes)
- Stephen Jones (hats)
- René Gruau (illustrator)
- Peter Philips (makeup)
