The Dior Gallery Paris: Between Craftsmanship and Daydreams
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For over 80 years, reigning over Avenue Montaigne, one of the most prestigious haute couture houses in the world, Dior. Known for its pieces with cuts as elegant as they are revolutionary and its motifs of blooming romance, we went to meet the man at its genesis. Going back in time and collections, through an enchanting scenography, The Dior Gallery Paris offers us a privileged dive into this cradle of creation to rediscover the history of the house. A return to a visit between present and past, a celebration of know-how, and daydreams around nature and the arts.
What is the Dior Gallery Paris?
Having opened its doors to the public in March 2022, the Dior Gallery introduces us to the creator Christian Dior, through archival documents, photos, sketches, letters, collection documents, videos and over a thousand pieces, some of which are revealed for the first time to the public.
Guided by words he left in his autobiography, Christian Dior and I, we rediscover the couturier, from his childhood to the fashion shows. We are given insight into his youth, his places of life, his entourage and his meetings which all served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and which, even today, serve as a backdrop to the couturiers who came after him, perpetuating the soul of the house, with echoes of the Garden of Eden.
We discover years of creation, having the woman as muse, whom he never ceased to embellish, and whom he wished, as he said, “not to make more beautiful, but to make happier”.
From one end of the visit to the other, we are amazed by the work of fabrics and materials, the approach to curves and cuts. The guiding thread, represented by flowers, enchants us with poetry, and the magic that takes over the evening outfits seduces us.
The Dior Gallery Paris offers a journey through time, as much by the pieces on display as by the place itself, the heart of the house. We navigate between sections echoing the past, with a desk, a workshop, a parquet floor. All wrapped in a touch of sleek modernity. The Dior house traverses the eras, while aiming to be timeless.
The Dior Gallery Paris: A Place of Fashion and History
Entering at 11 rue François 1er, we discover a place where echoes of a stunning history resonate. A place where multiple facets of life and creation were born, and have contributed to the renown of this address. We discover a place, which like the collections, has expanded over time.
The small mansion, built in 1865 by the son of Napoleon 1st on Avenue Montaigne, offering 3 workshop spaces, has thus seen its surface grow with the increasing success of the creator. Invested in 1946, at the launch of the house, its enclosure gradually revealed itself as a theater stage, where everyone wished to cast their gaze. The biggest names in fashion and art have presented themselves, alongside other prestigious clients, like Marlène Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, or Grace Kelly.
These walls, which now house the Dior Gallery Paris, then observed the creativity of other couturiers expressing themselves, following the death of Christian Dior. Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, have, in turn, brought to life collections, imbued with their personality and vision, yet in accord with the image of the house, to honor the legacy of the great French couturier.
Meeting One of the Greatest Creators at the Dior Gallery Paris
It is to its creator, his imagination, and his creative legacy that the Dior Gallery pays tribute. A celebration of over 80 years of fashion and an ode to the feminine silhouette, of which the French couturier provided his vision for the first 10 years before passing on the baton.
Through various archives, where time stands still, we discover the early years of Christian Dior, with a backdrop of “Les Rhumbs”, this family home in Granville, rocked by the sounds of the waves and the scents of the rose gardens. Its atmosphere, its pink plaster and its gray gravel guided the collections of Christian Dior, and still reflect, today, in the soul of the house.
We discover the story of a family, nourished by the love of nature, visual creation, but also, a tragic fate. The creator’s words highlight the years presented to us, and how life diverted him from Sciences Po, to guide him towards his destiny. Gallery owner at 23, illustrator then apprentice designer at Robert Piguet, and vocation confirmation at Lucien Lelong. It was in 1946 that his eponymous couture house was born, encouraged by a sign, that of a star found on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
The photos present at the Dior Gallery Paris plunge us back into the success that was written through pieces with revolutionary cuts and breaking with what was known. A clear success, not hoped for, and at a pace somewhat regretfully. A house whose radiance has exceeded the hexagon, with a first subsidiary opening in New York, then shops abroad, and multiplication of presentations around the world, between Greece, Japan, Australia, or England.
In addition to the love for horticulture, transmitted by his mother, and which gives inspiration to the pieces, both for their motifs and their utility (like the leather bouquet holder bag presented for 2022), the creator’s sketches were also nourished by his encounters.
The Dior Gallery Paris highlights the creator’s passion for art, and the circle of artists and intellectuals in which he evolved, between Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali, to name just two, and who came to enrich the work of Christian Dior. From these elective affinities, was born the passion for balls and castle parties, and the creation of sumptuous pieces, for prestigious silhouettes, from Lady Diana to Sophia Loren, and more recently, Emma Stones.
Discovering the Genesis of Iconic Dior Pieces
If Christian Dior has so much revolutionized fashion, it’s notably for his approach to the feminine silhouette which he rethought, between tradition and modernity. The Dior Gallery Paris makes us rediscover the emblematic pieces of the Dior house, including the bar suit, synonymous with consecration. Created for his first collection, this Dior suit came to redistribute the cards of fashion, with a bold silhouette shaped like an 8, marked by the inspiration of the corsets of the XVIIIth century, and linked to a flared skirt. A set that caused a sensation, and which the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar had qualified as New Look.
A new silhouette of a flower-woman, which has set the tone for future collections of designers to this day, and which is tied to the floral fabrics and needlework enveloping the pieces with delicate details, between lily of the valley bells, cascades of flowers and rose-shaped buttons. Pieces, which like petals, embrace and reveal the bodies of women. The Dior Gallery Paris honors an entire craftsmanship, operated by the little hands of the workshops, and which we observe with enchantment.
Why Visit the Dior Gallery?
The Dior Gallery Paris seduced us with its scenography. From one space to another, we discover the different facets and inspirations of the creator and the Dior house, in settings as delicate as they are sumptuous. Enchanted garden and forest, museum corner echoing Cocteau, Dali, Man Ray, and Giacometti, ode to the Parisian woman and work around perfume, inspirations through destinations, corridors of accessories shining with their crystals and colors…
Each segment of the visit transports us, up to that climax, an entrance into another world, that of parties and balls, which left us
