The main reason for my trip to Paris was to see the Christian Dior exhibition at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. It celebrates 70 years of Christian Dior, showing the work of Christian Dior and the 6 artistic directors who followed him to create fantastic clothes, accessories and perfume for the design house.
Alongside 300 dresses the curators have gathered together documents, sketches, photographs, hats, jewellery, shoes and perfume bottles, as well as paintings, objets d’art and furniture which have helped to inspire the directors. Christian Dior loved art and gardens and his successors were equally inspired in the same way.
Christian Dior was a success from his very first show in February 1947. His revolutionary New Look was a triumph. Women were tired of the austerity of war and embraced the return to femininity.
He was the first to dress the entire woman from head to toe, dresses, shoes, hats, jewellery and perfume. It was the golden age of fashion photography and Dior surrounded himself with the best photographers. He was aware of the importance of the emerging women’s press and knew how to make an impact.
The exhibition begins with several rooms detailing the history of the man and the design house. Everything here is behind glass, so my photos are not perfect. There are full size dresses, photographs, doll sized creations and accessories.
There was a huge screen with a stunning photo of Princess Margaret and others dressed in Dior. The light changes and the actual dresses are seen behind the screen.
There is this iconic photography by Richard Avedon and the dress. (Both dresses were tiny with incredibly small waists)
Here are some of the delightful objects behind the glass.
The next section takes the viewer through a showcase of beautiful dresses in elegant settings representing the inspiration.
Cutout paper flowers fall from the ceiling in the next section, reflecting the floral theme of the garments.
This is one of my favourite dresses from the exhibition. It is a white cotton pique dress from the 1950s.
…and this
…and this
These 3 are all by Christian Dior himself.
From here the exhibition continues on the other side of the gallery. The famous New Look leads the viewer up the stairs.
Here we are led through a history of the creative directors who followed Christian Dior, beginning with Yves Saint Laurent…1957 – 1960.
He was followed by Marc Bohan who was with the house for almost 30 years…1960 – 1989.
Then came Gianfranco Ferre…1989 – 1986, who caused a stir…an Italian leading Dior?
John Galliano was next…1996 – 2011.
Raff Simons…2012 – 2015.
The current director is the first woman, Maria Grazia Chiuri who joined the house in 2016.
One of my favourite rooms is dedicated to the creators of the garments. Here you can see the detail and the work that goes into what sometimes looks like a simple garment.
A long walk along a hall lined with more fabulous garments leads to…
… a room decorated to look like a stunning ballroom.
The light changed.
There are dresses worn by movie stars, including Natalie Portman.
Emma Watson.
Julieanne Moore.
And yet another favourite, the dress worn by Elizabeth Taylor when she received her Accademy Award.
I would have had some more details of stars and dates etc, but a clever boy at the camera shop wiped all my photos. I recorded details of the clothes, designers and dates. I am working from memory here, so please excuse mistakes. Luckily I had uploaded most of the photos to my iPad or they would have all been lost and I would have been quite cross.
Take a look at the woman on the floor on the left of this photo. I think she was a bit overcome. I can understand this. It was hot and very crowded in the museum on both days I visited. It was difficult to take photos and even to breathe on some occasions, but it was worth every stifling moment to see this amazing collection.
The exhibition is on until January 2018. If you need a reason to visit Paris soon, this is it.