A dazzling experience at the Dior Museum!

Paris - forever the capital of fashion thanks to the city’s big designers and exhibitions dedicated to their Art, such as Elbaz at the Musée Galliera, Mugler at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs and a tribute to Yves Saint Laurent at the best museums in Paris. The opening of the Galerie Dior is making a buzz right now!  The gallery recounts Christian Dior’s extraordinary career and how his fashion house has managed to constantly reinvent and perpetuate his vision and style since his passing and stay at the original location on Avenue Montaigne, which has been “a symbol of Parisian haute couture and French excellence” (to quote Bernard Arnault) since it first opened seventy years ago.

The gallery is three exhibit floors around a gigantic white staircase in the centre of an atrium presenting a diorama encompassing just under 2,000 enchantingly colourful, miniature Dior outfits and accessories. The tour starts at the top of the stairs, on the 3rd floor with history retracing the designer’s career, initially as an art gallery owner and dealer, who finally turned towards fashion and immediately created quite a stir with the collection presented at the first Dior fashion show (12th February 1947), popularly known as the New Look. The name was coined by Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar at the time, defining a new feminine and determined post-war woman, iconically illustrated by the Bar suit, with a tight upper torso fitting to accentuate the waist on top of a looser, calf-length pleated skirt.The new style quickly spread around the world and Christian Dior never stopped reworking his initial design to create new models.

Despite his unexpected death in 1957 it was not the end for Dior, as the top artistic directors who succeeded him have perpetuated his “school of style and good taste”. Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri all added to the Dior style. Their designs are also on show, harmoniously highlighting other exhibits from the Enchanting Garden section, all the way through to the ball gown section.

After the dazzling experience touring the temple of expertise and creativity, it is time for a break at the Café Dior. Or to make your Dior day a truly unique experience, have a meal at the Monsieur Dior restaurant (32, rue Montaigne) where Chef Jean Imbert, also in charge of the Pâtisserie and the Café Dior, offers dishes perpetuating the fashion house’s history, such as the Cuban-style turbot, taken from the designer’s own recipe book (La Cuisine cousue-main – ‘hand-sewn cuisine’), or the Christian Dior egg with caviar he was so fond of.The art déco Bœuf sur le Toit, on the other side of the Champs Elysées is also in-line with the theme, as it is the brasserie where Mr Dior liked to see his friends Dali, Christian Bérard and Jean Cocteau.  

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