A Very British Dior

The story of a French man’s love affair with England, and how his work inspired the couturiers of Miss Gene Marshall.

Venerated couturier Christian Dior (1905-57) adored the great houses and gardens of Britain. He also admired British-designed ocean liners, notably the Queen Mary, and wore suits from Savile Row. Dior’s first UK fashion show took place at London’s Savoy Hotel, and in 1952 he established Christian Dior, London.

On an early summer trip to the UK, we were lucky enough to catch the exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the V&A in London – an exploration of the designer’s fascination with British culture. It was fascinating to see Dior’s designs for his notable early British clients, from author Nancy Mitford to ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn, as well as the dress worn by Princess Margaret for her 21st birthday celebrations. Dior staged spectacular fashion shows in the UK’s most luxurious stately homes, including Blenheim Palace in 1954, several ensembles are now in the V&A’s collection.

In a nod to industry, there were examples of creative collaborations with British manufacturers, including gloves by Dents, footwear from Rayne, Lyle & Scott’s knitwear, and costume jewelry designed by Mitchel Maer.

Highlights from the museum’s couture collections, included the iconic Bar Suit, gifted by the House of Dior in 1960 with the help of Cecil Beaton. The past seventy years have not diminished the enduring influence of the Dior brand.

Dior loved England and his British clients loved his fashions. Christian Dior first met Princess Margaret in the spring of 1949 when she visited the Dior salon during her first European visit. In April 1950, Dior put on a special royal show, at the French Embassy in London, for Her Majesty The Queen, Princess Margaret, Princess Marina, and Princess Olga of Greece. Princess Margaret remained a client of the House of Dior for many years.

Novelist Emma Tennant wore a Dior silk organza dress, Fête Joyeuse, when she was presented as a debutante at the royal court. Referred to as ‘coming out’, this archaic tradition was a method of introducing young girls into society and formed part of a six-month season beginning in May with parties and social events, such as Queen Charlotte’s Ball. For her coming out ball, Tennant and her mother, Lady Glenconner, ordered haute couture gowns from Dior in Paris.

Tennant’s choice of a red strapless dress was unusually sophisticated for a debutante at the time when white and pastel colors were deemed the suitable choice for young girls. Tennant recalled the dress in her memoirs as ‘a dress from Dior in Paris, scarlet organza with a rose in its foliage mid-stomach…easily fastened and almost indestructible, being built with whalebones and further strengthened with what appeared to be a beige baize stiffened with wire’.

Christian Dior was incredibly superstitious and carried lucky charms wherever he went. The most important was a five-pointed star, found on the street outside the British Embassy in Paris. Dior discovered this the evening before he met the entrepreneur Marcel Boussac, who would later finance Dior’s fashion house. Throughout his life, Dior sought guidance from fortune tellers. When deciding whether to accept Boussac’s offer, Dior consulted his clairvoyant Madame Delahaye. On her insistence that he ‘must create the House of Christian Dior’, he proceeded with the deal. Dior’s current artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, has incorporated the star motif in her accessories, as an homage to the House’s founder.

In another link with England, the former creative director of Christian Dior, John Galliano, was appointed in 1996. A graduate of London’s Saint Martin’s School of Art, from his first collection Galliano delved into the history of the House, referencing garments and key figures from Dior’s life, including his muse Mitzah Bricard, his mother Madeleine, and Dior model Alla Ilchun. Galliano’s runway shows were eagerly anticipated, promising spectacle, drama, and extraordinary creative excess, with references inspired by his global research trips. However, Galliano was fired in 2011 for ‘odious behavior’ after he was accused of making antisemitic and racist insults in a drunken rant.

The dress shown above epitomizes Galliano’s talent for fantastical story telling through clothing. It is inspired by 1950s pin-up girls and the 19th century Austrian Empress Elisabeth known as Sisi, and is accessorized with an orb, scepter and dramatic crown of Swarovski crystals.

The most recent Brit to join the ranks of Christian Dior is Kim Jones, Dior Men’s artistic director. He is feted for taking Dior back to a couture direction since his appointment last year, using the past to fuel the future. Collaborating with the American contemporary artist Daniel Arsham, Jones took classic Dior items from the archive and projected them into the 21st century. Takeaway ideas that we might apply to our male dolls are couture-focused with roots in architecture: toile de jouy shirts (hand-painted by kimono craftsmen in Japan and embellished with finely pleated silk-chiffon, worked to appear like appliquéed coral); longline sculptural leather coats; transparent outerwear mirrored in see-through shoes to show Dior-motif socks underneath – evoking the essence of couture where what lies beneath is as important as what the eye can see.

Collectors of Gene Marshall may be familiar with the regular referencing of Dior for this doll’s huge wardrobe of outfits. Some examples are shown below, but for a wealth of other gowns and costumes inspired by the couturier, visit http://genemarshallfashionsleuth.blogspot.com/ where you can find images of the original ensembles.

This latest in the V&A’s series of fashion exhibitions is based on Christian Dior: Couturier du Rêve, organized by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and reimagined for the V&A as Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, (2 February – 14 July 2019 go to www.vam.ac.uk)

The V&A in London remains a go-to destination for anyone interested in contemporary and vintage fashion. Previous exhibitions have included Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty; The Glamour of Italian Fashion: 1945-2014; The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 (where I first discovered the remarkable Théâtre de la Mode mannequins). In 2017, the V&A staged a retrospective on Cristóbal Balenciaga, and in 2018 the V&A opened Fashioned From Nature – the first UK exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and nature from 1600 to the present day.

This feature first appeared in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine.