Christian Dior designed beauty, ending wartime ugliness

By the time we were selecting our own clothes in the 1960s, the times were too hippy for my generation to tolerate Christian Dior (1905–1957)’s post-war fashions. But now it is time for us to re-examine our old views.

Born in Normandy and moved to Paris when he was a child, the Dior family name was known for his father’s successful fertiliser comp­any. As an adult, Dior immersed himself in the capital’s creative scene, under the care of Robert Piguet, fashion designer who trained Hubert de Givenchy.

Following France's surrender to Germany in 1940, Dior returned to Paris, where he was soon hired by couturier Lucien Lelong. Through­out the remaining years of the war, including when Dior was serving in the French army, Lelong's design house dressed the women of the Nazis and of French collab­orat­ors. During this same time, Dior's younger sister, Catherine, was working for the French Resistance.

Dior, bar suit, 1947
silk jacket and wool crêpe skirt

How did Christian Dior help to restore an embattled post-war Paris as the capital of fashion?  Louise Quick says it was Feb 1947 when the designer’s scandalous range shocked post-WW2 society and rev­olut­ionised the fashion industry forever. Taking place just two years after Victory in Europe Day, Dior stunned his world with his first fashion collection in Paris. Models wore swathes of rich fabric, long, heavy skirts and dres­ses synched at the waist.

Dior’s designs were about creating an overtly hourglass silhouette. Of 90 impressive pieces in Dior’s collection that day, the most iconic was the Bar Suit- a large, dark, feminine skirt, padded at the hips, teamed with a silk cream blazer synched at the waist. It was a figure that set the standard for fashion and femininity for the next decade, reflected in the famous styles of 1950s. Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth loved his style, as did the fashionable young royal, Princess Margaret. She chose one of Dior’s designs for her 21st birthday, immortalised later by Cecil Beaton.

Warmly received everywhere, the designs spread across Europe and made their way over to New York. While the Dior designs may have seemed shocking back then , they don’t necessarily seem shocking today. So it’s important to remember the huge effect WW2 had had on everyday clothes. The fashion industry was hit by war-rationing and austerity measures, and there was a significant war time reduction in mat­erials, skilled workers and factory space.

New Look evening dress, 1947

using metres of lush material.

With the introduction of rationing in Britain (and Australia) in 1941, simpler, slimmer outfits were made as more coupons were need­ed for the fabric and skilled handiwork. So early 1940s clothes were dominated by simple suits and knee-length dresses with boxy, manly shoulders. Decorative elements like pleats, ruching, embroid­ery and even pockets were restricted under austerity meas­ures, while luxury additions like hats and lace were heavily taxed.

After food, clothing was the hardest hit by the demands of the war effort, which explains the government’s Make-do And Mend pamphlets; they provided housewives with useful tips on how to be both frugal and stylish in times of harsh clothes rationing. A band of London designers even came together to Incorporated Society of Lon­don Fashion Designers/Incsoc, to popularise austerity-era designs.

In 1942, Incsoc created 32 designs of utility styles, fashionable outfits that used to limited resources, that they then presented to the public. Restricted to tight fabric rations, Incsoc coats, dresses and suits had no pleats, tucks, frills and no unnec­essary buttons. They were intended for all seasons, with paper patterns made available for those wishing make them at home.

While many of the leading fashion houses and magazines were happy with the war-time designs, fashion-conscious citizens were unsure about mass-produced styles. And some critics thought these Mayfair designs were actually too fashion-oriented for women in the war factory. Nonetheless these simpler, utility-style designs became the general trend, represent­ing both fashion and dedication to the war effort. And it carried on, because clothes rationing didn’t end until 1954!

So it was shocking post-war to see visions of Dior’s models covered in lavish materials, fine details and accessor­ies. While Incsoc’s utility-style dresses had been rest­ric­ted to 1.8 metres of fabric, Dior’s more elaborate pieces often used 18+ metres each. His glamorous, fem­in­ine style was a comp­l­ete rejection of the wartime austerity that covered Eur­ope.

Fashionistas mostly approved of the lavish designs and the move away from boring wartime trends. The bulky coats and capes to cover the large skirts were surp­rising. As were the pockets, synched waists, exaggerated bosoms and classy acc­essories; but it was the long skirts that were the most controv­ersial. While 1940s fashion generally had knee-length skirts and dresses, the New Look wasn’t concerned with fabric rationing .... so hems could fall to mid-shin.

Christian Dior's Cyclone design, 1948.

There was another, more sexist explanation. Post-war women were encour­aged to become homemakers again, moving out of the work-place so men would have jobs. The feminine, flowery and imp­r­actical Dior fashions were therefore actively encouraged in Western countries.

In 1950 Dior licensed his name on luxury accessories eg neck-ties, hosiery, furs and handbags, the first designer to do so. Dior died of a heart attack in 1957 while holidaying in Italy at 52.  He had single-handedly revived Paris’ struggling post-war fashion industry, particularly among society’s glamorous upper class. But then the role of artistic director moved to a young assistant, Yves Laurent.

To celebrate the anniversary of the House of Dior,  the National Gallery of Victoria pres­ented The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture in 2017. It included a lavish display of 140+ garments designed by Christian Dior from his iconic 1947 New Look Collection and on. The exhibition narr­at­ed the fashion house’s rich history, Christian Dior’s early influences, his design codes, insights into the Dior atelier workrooms, accessories that played a role in the complete Dior look and the six successive designers after Christian Dior died in 1957. The signature ballgowns and evening dresses wowed the NGV audience.

Dior’s longstanding relationship with Aust­ralia was also examined, including the historic Spring 1948 fashion parade at David Jones in Sydney, where models wore 50 original outfits.