Logo: “Dior” in a vintage serif print font
Signature Elements: silver hardware, repeating “D” jacquard fabric, ladylike refinement in design.
Most Famous Handbag: the infamous asymmetrical saddle bag, shown here in deerskin finished camel calfskin (got all that?)
Created in 1995 by John Galliano, the head designer, the saddle bag is a nod to life in the West. The dangling “D” is a stirrup for the curvy bag, which is shaped like a saddle viewed from the side.
To celebrate his 10th year anniversary in 2007, Galliano created twelve versions of the saddle bag, each commemorating a different country: Argentina, China, Egypt, England, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and the USA. They were available in limited quantities as some Dior boutiques. Click here to view pictures of all the bags. 
Most Famous Perfume: Miss Dior
Most Famous Outfit: The New Look, created post WWII in 1947, swept women’s fashion with its voluptuous silhouettes. With the end of rationing, reams of fabric were used on ensembles that changed the boxy suits of the WWII era to sloping shoulders, wasp waists, and long, full skirts. This look was accepted as a backlash reaction to the austere brutality of war — this was the renaissance of fashion evoking the Belle Epoque of the 1900s.
Carmel Snow, then editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, is credited with coining the term “New Look” with her phrase: “Your dresses have such a new look.”
Founder: In 1905, Christian Dior was born in Normandy, France. Dior longed to become an architect but, at his father’s insistence, he enrolled at the prestigious Parisian Ecole des Sciences Politiques to earn a degree in politics to prepare him for a diplomatic career.
All Dior wanted, however, was to work in the arts. In 1928, his father gave him enough money to open an art gallery on condition that the family name did not appear above the door. Galerie Jacques Bonjean soon became an avant garde haunt with paintings by Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Max Jacob hanging on walls decorated by Christian Bérard. Disaster struck in 1931 with the demises of Dior’s older brother, mother and the family firm. The gallery closed. For the next few years Dior
scraped a living by selling fashion sketches to haute couture houses. Finally he found a job as an assistant to the couturier, Robert Piquet.
When World War II war began in 1939, Dior served as an officer until France’s surrender. He joined his father and a sister on a farm in Provence until he was offered a job in Paris by the couturier Lucien Lelong, who was lobbying the Germans to revive the couture trade. Dior spent the rest of the War dressing the wives of Nazi officers and French collaborators. France emerged from World War II in ruins. Half a million buildings were destroyed. Clothes, coal and food were in short supply. Yet there were ample opportunities for new business ventures — including fashion. Dior was invited by a childhood friend from Granville to revive Philippe et Gaston, a struggling clothing company owned by Marcel Boussac, the “King of Cotton” with an empire of racing stables, newspapers and textile mills.
Boussac met Dior and listened to his theory that the public was ready for a new style after the War. Dior’s description of a luxurious new look with billowing skirts had an obvious appeal to a man who owed his wealth to selling large quantities of fabric. Boussac agreed to launch the new couture house in style with a then-unprecedented budget of 60 million francs.
The house of Dior and its 85 employees moved into a modest mansion at 30 Avenue Montaigne, decorated in Dior’s favourite colours of white and grey. The first couture show opened February 12, 1947, and the rest is well-known history.
Yves Saint Laurent was hired as an assistant, and took over as head designer when Dior died in 1957 of a heart attack after choking on a fishbone.
Current Designer: John Galliano
Company Control/Exclusivity: Dior is one of the many brands within the massive LVMH family. With 63,000 employees and growth of 8.3%, this house is a strong one. The stock symbol is CDI on EuroNext Paris.
Website: http://www.dior.com
This post is tagged Dior, StyleFiles, StyleMint
