The Homeless Man Who Invented Dior

Take a look at this bag. You may not be able to guess just by looking at it, but this bag will set you back approximately four thousand, five hundred dollars. Now, you might be wondering how on earth a single bag could possibly cost so much money.

Well, you have to take a closer look. Because the answer lies within the pattern. within a flower.

The story begins in a garden with a little boy named Christian. He would spend hours in this garden with his mother, Madeleine, sketching the likeness of the flowers. His full name?

Christian Dior He didn't know it during his hours spent in this garden. But, one day, he would become the most influential and sought-after designer in French haute couture. And his work would be rooted deeply in this garden and the villa where it resides.

But, to fully understand, we need to dig deeper. Christian’s father, Alexandre Louis “Maurice” Dior, owned a very successful fertilizer manufacturing company that allowed for the family’s lavish lifestyle. Christian’s early years were spent living in a villa in the North of France in Granville, Normandy.

The villa had a soft pink exterior and a trianon gray gravel front lane. Two colors which remained embedded in the future designer’s mind. Though, most importantly, it was the home of him and his mother’s sanctuary.

The home sat on a cliffside overlooking the ocean. And would be the subject of harsh sea winds and weather. But, on the side of the villa sat the garden.

With pergolas and hedges that acted as walls, shielding itself and the home from the elements. To Christian, it was an oasis; an Eden. And it’s there that he spent hours cultivating a passion for all things flowering.

His favorite? The rose, of which his mother had planted over twenty different species within the sacred confines of the garden. In the future, he would use the rose’s shape, along with his other favorite flowers, to base the structure of his designs.

He would also use the image of the rose repeatedly in the patterns of his designs. The garden housed Christian’s other favorite as well. Lily of the valley.

Which sat tucked in the corner of the garden and would one day be sewn into the hem of each of his designs before their debut on the runway. Not only that, but he was known to wear a buttonhole of it on himself as well. A good luck charm.

But unfortunately for Christian, his daily life spent in his garden overlooking the sea, was uprooted when the success of his father, Maurice’s, company grew. Forcing the family to move to Paris when Christian was only 5 years old. Fortunately for him, the villa remained a part of their lives and they would return for holiday visits.

Christian lived as a teen in the city, enjoying the contemporary avant garde art-life it had to offer. Even going so far as to convince his parents to help him fund the opening of an art gallery with his friend, Jacques Bonjean. They agreed on one condition.

He was not allowed to use the family name above the door. Instead, the duo opted to use the name of his partner, Bonjean. They sold art from the rising talents of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali and Max Jacob.

Christian was finally pursuing his passion for art that had begun as a child, sketching flowers in his Garden of Eden. But, this too didn’t last. His life took a downward spiral filled with tragedy and misfortune.

His brother, who suffered for years with the symptoms of mental illness, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalized. Christian’s mother came down with sepsis after an operation and that, mixed with her heartbreak over her son’s condition, saw her fade to her death. “My mother, whom I adored, secretly wasted away and died of grief… her death… marked me for life.

” Unfortunately, her death wasn’t the final hardship the Dior family would be forced to face. When the market crash reached France, Christian’s father, Maurice, who had invested heavily in real estate, lost everything. And shortly after, Christian and his gallery partner, Jacques, also lost everything, closing their gallery doors for good.

On top of his business failings, his father was forced to sell their villa in Granville and with it, Christian’s tangible connection to his mother that lay within the makeshift walls of the garden. With nowhere else to go, his father and sister moved to the more affordable the south of France. Determined to continue with his passion for art, Christian remained in Paris.

Homeless, he took to the couches and dingy attics of friends he’d made during his years spent indulging in French art. At this time, a friend of his convinced him to train as a fashion illustrator. So, he began selling dress and accessory design sketches to the fashion magazine, Le Figaro.

For the next two years, he built up a reputation for himself as a designer and was hired by designer Robert Piguet. Paris’ leading couturier. Like many fashion houses at the time, Christian, along with the other in-house designers, proposed sketches that were then put under one name.

In this case, the name of Robert Piguet. “Robert Piguet taught me the virtues of simplicity through which true elegance must come. ” Again, this perfect-fit position Christian found himself in wasn’t to last.

1939 saw the start of the second world war, and for the 34-year-old Christian, this meant he was forced to leave his position with Robert Piguet. He was called into military service. In which he remained for only one year before returning to Paris.

But when he got back, hoping to return to his position with Robert Piguet, his job was no longer waiting for him. Thankfully, Christian’s time as a fashion designer wasn’t over. He was hired as a designer by Lucien Lelong, a prominent French couturier.

And this, was the beginning of Christian’s ascent towards the successful fashion empire that awaited him. You see, Lucien Lelong also employed a man named Pierre Balmain. Yes.

That Balmain. Pierre would leave the House of LeLong to lead his own fashion house. The House of Balmain.

And thankfully too, or else we may never have known the full potential that lay inside Christian. Because witnessing this transition for Pierre inspired Christian. But first, he was to meet one more man that would allow this inspiration to become fruitful.

In 1946, Christian was introduced to someone who would forever change the course of his career as a designer. Marcel Boussac. A textile tycoon known as the “cotton king of France”.

Marcel asked Christian to head the resurrection of one of the many fashion houses that didn’t see it to the other side of the war. Christian was flattered. But, remembering the move made by Pierre Balmain, he refused.

He didn’t want to resurrect an old, dying house, or continue working under the name of another. He was ready to start fresh and create designs under his own name. Marcel, having heard such great things about Christian, agreed.

He would finance this new venture of Christian’s. And so, on December 16th, 1946, the House of Dior opened its doors at 30 Avenue Montaigne. The colors of the villa that resonated so deeply with him as a child, soft pink and trianon gray, donned the interior and exterior walls of the salon.

Nearly two months later, on February 12, 1947, at precisely 10:30 in the morning, Christian debuted his inaugural 90-piece collection to a packed house. He filled the rooms with fresh bouquets of his favorites along with his first fragrance, Miss Dior, Something he created as an homage to his youngest sister, Catherine. He named his debut collection, Corolle.

Which, translated, means the petals of a flower. Because with it, Christian had one clear objective… “To make women happier and more beautiful. ” And, to Christian, what held more beauty than a flower?

“After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world. ” In order to accomplish this, Christian had to pull away, far away from the rationed and functional clothing of the war years. “We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers.

” It did nothing to flatter the curves of a woman. He would change that. “I have designed flower women.

” Christian exclaimed upon finishing his collection. In fact, it was such a change from what the public had grown accustomed to that it was given a new name. Carmel Snow, editor in chief of the American Harpar’s Bazaar, dubbed the collection, “New Look” when she told him, “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!

Your dresses have such a new look! ” Every new model, wearing their new pieces, entered the rooms, one by one and were welcomed with gusts of applause. “I stuffed my ears, terrified of feeling confident too soon.

” “As long as I live, whatever triumphs I win, nothing will ever exceed my feelings of that supreme moment. ” This welcome of the collection he had poured his heart and soul into, that was years in the making, was such a relief to him. “The dresses are my daydreams, but they have passed from dreamland into the world of everyday items to wear.

” Unfortunately, not everyone was ready to welcome this New Look of Christian’s . The debut collection by the House of Dior created quite a stir. Having been released following the end of the second world war, people were divided.

To those who could afford to pay the premium price that came with each custom-fitted piece, it was a luxury they had been deprived of during the war. It made them happy and restored in them a feeling of grace and beauty. So, to them, the benefits outweighed the costs.

But, for those who had experienced great loss in the last number of years and were still struggling to survive, it was a slap in the face and a clear distinction between what people could and could not have. As a result, a model wearing his designs was attacked in the streets during a photo shoot, and their clothes were torn from their body. At the time, fabric was still being rationed from the war and with Christian’s designs, that fact went out the window.

He used upwards of 80 yards of fabric for a single dress. This actually kept the likes of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret from wearing his designs in public. There were mixed reactions to his designs across the pond as well.

In America, they were met with pushback from a group of women who called themselves the “Little Below the Knee Club”. Going so far as to meet Christian upon his arrival and chant and hold up signs expressing their disgust. Their problem with this New Look?

The length and the femininity of the pieces. They claimed the designs prevented them from going about their daily lives. And that the defining of the female figure heightened the objectification of women.

There was even a group of men, 30,000 strong, residing in Georgia in America who had one purpose. They called themselves the League of Broke husbands. And they were ANGRY.

The prices were astronomical to them and they called for an all-out ban on Christian’s full-length designs. Despite all of this negativity his collection garnered, bad press is still press. People were buying what the House of Dior was creating.

In fact, by the end of 1949, Dior accounted for 75 percent of the fashion being exported out of France and 5 percent of France’s exports as a whole. In the years that followed, the House of Dior saw success after success with each new collection. After his second collection for Autumn/Winter, 1947, American Vogue wrote, “His second collection proves that he is not just occasionally good.

” He dressed the likes of movie stars and royalty. In each of his collections, he incorporated pieces of that first garden that remained so dear to him. Flower patterns appeared in each and would continue to fill the rooms during every one of his shows.

Something else that was in each of his shows… Variety. “There is no such thing as an ugly woman - there are only the ones who do not know how to make themselves attractive. ” “He wanted to have women of various shapes, sizes and ages and heights.

He didn’t care if they were pretty girls or not. As long as they had an allure that was chic. ” In these years, every subsequent collection was groundbreaking with his inventions of the H-line, A-line and Y-line silhouettes.

In fact, Christian’s success allowed him to make a purchase in 1951. He bought a home in the south of France, not far from where his father once lived and attempted to recreate his childhood oasis. Acting as a retirement plan for the future; Christian hoped to spend his days tinkering in this garden.

Sadly, those plans would never come to pass. Because on October 23rd, 1957, ten years after the world met him as Christian Dior, the designer and head of the House of Dior, he took a vacation to Italy. And there, in Montecatini, at the age of 52, Christian suffered his third and final heart attack.

Christian Dior had died. “The directors announced that in effect, ‘the king is dead. Long live the king.

’” Marcel Boussac had Christian’s body flown back to Paris where his burial was met with 2,500 people attending to pay their respects to their friend, brother, employer and dedicated designer. At the time of Christian’s death the House of Dior was earning more than $20 million annually. The young boy in the garden, sketching flowers, had created and led a fashion empire.

The brand, marked with his name, has continued to grow since his passing. Today, the house of Dior is worth an estimated $142 billion. Christian, in all of his heartbreak and ups and downs that he faced throughout his life, he accomplished his dream and remained true to the little boy in the garden.