Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams is the Victoria and Albert Museum’s latest blockbuster show. Judith Schrut has been to view.
Let’s face it, 1945 post-war Europe was a bleak and desolate place. Into this grey void stepped the shy but supremely talented son of a fertiliser manufacturer from rural Normandy. His name was Christian Dior.
Within a short time after launching his first collection in 1947, Dior became one of the 20th century’s most influential designers and founder of the most famous fashion house in the world. Following years of austerity, make-do-and-mend and rationed everything (including fabric), Dior’s “New Look” swiftly changed the face of fashion with style, joy, colour and masses of sumptuous, sensuous fabric.
It is fitting that the V&A, the world’s greatest museum of art, design and fashion, is hosting this newly opened, largest and most comprehensive exhibition on the House of Dior. Featured are more than 500 objects in 11 gorgeously designed galleries, including over 200 rare Haute Couture garments, along with accessories, fashion photography, vintage perfume, makeup, original illustrations and Dior’s personal items.
The show shines a particularly fascinating light on Dior’s admiration and love for British culture– its great country houses, grand hotels and gardens, Savile Row suits, and ocean liners like the Queen Mary. In the words of the great man himself, “There is no other country in the world beside my own whose way of life I like so much. I love English traditions, English politeness, English architecture. I even love English cooking.” Exhibition highlights include a couture gown designed for ballerina Margot Fonteyn and the stunning Dior dress worn by Princess Margaret for her 21st birthday celebrations.
Princess Margaret (1930-2002), photo by Cecil Beaton © Cecil Beaton, Victoria & Albert Museum
Garden lovers will cherish the round gallery garlanded in paper flowers and filled with floral themed dresses, exquisitely hand stitched or richly embroidered in silk, velour and chiffon. The Diorama Gallery is a colour coordinated, wall-to-wall wall of vintage Dior accessories, from costume jewellery, hats, shoes and bags to miniature dresses, lipsticks and perfume. Other galleries focus on the master couturier’s successors who have continued the House of Dior to this day. This includes the 21 year old Yves St Laurent, who took over after Dior’s sudden death, aged just 52.
For those of us who can’t quite afford our own diamond and Swarovski crystal-studded Dior gown, the show is a unique chance to see Haute Couture up close, a fast disappearing world where everything is handmade with exquisite craftmanship and skill.
It’s all pretty awesome, but you’ll want to reserve your biggest gasp for the show’s centrepiece, the Ballroom. Take a gallery-side seat and watch as walls, ceilings and 70 Dior-decked mannequins shimmer, dazzle and sparkle in colourful sequence. Feel as one with a pure white sunrise, a Renaissance drawing room, a glowing moonrise and heavens dripping with crystals. Vintage Diorissimo!
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams runs until 14 July 2019 at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7, sponsored by Swarovski and American Express. Free museum entry, exhibition tickets £15-24, advance booking essential, V&A members and children under 12 free. Find out more at vam.ac.uk.
