CHRISTIAN DIOR: COUTURIER DU RÊVE

2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of the House of Dior. It was in 1947 that Christian Dior presented his first fashion show, marking the birth of a new feminine silhouette: after the austerity of the war years, the cinched waist, full skirts and soft shoulders designed flower-women who embodied the very image of Parisian luxury. The "New Look" re-established Paris as the capital of fashion and established the Dior name as synonymous with haute couture. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which owns a copy of the famous Tailleur Bar from 1947 and had already presented a "Tribute to Christian Dior" exhibition in 1987, is celebrating this anniversary with a flagship exhibition, of which this book is the catalog. It shows in detail a selection of 70 silhouettes created by Christian Dior and his successors, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and most recently Maria Grazia Chiuri. Specially photographed for this book, these garments are accompanied by texts situating them in their context, sketches, runway photographs and creations by the greatest fashion photographers, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, William Klein, Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier, Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Nick Knight... The texts address the themes that have marked the history of the house: the notion of line and the architecture of clothing, the relationship with history and art (Versailles and the Petit Trianon, the Second Empire, Impressionism, the Belle Epoque, the Ballets Russes, Picasso, Dalì, Pollock...), the deployment of colors, gardens and elsewhere as sources of inspiration, and of course the brand's famous muses and customers (the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Grace of Monaco, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Isabelle Adjani, Lady Diana, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence...). A book that offers a magnificent overview of the most emblematic of French fashion houses, and whose wealth of iconography will satisfy even the most discerning readers.