CHRISTIAN DIOR
Designer of Dreams At the Brooklyn Museum
Legendary fashion designer Christian Dior took Paris by storm in 1947 with designs that were in sharp contrast to the grim post-war years. Instead, Dior reintroduced femininity, focusing on luxury and a silhouette described as the “the New Look.” As the most influential designer of the late 1940s and 1950s, Dior’s opulent designs helped re-establish Paris as the fashion capital it had once been. It was written that “he was so famous in France at the time that it seemed as if he wasn’t a man but an institution.”
With his designs widely photographed and featured in leading publications, Dior became one of the world’s most recognized names in fashion. But, just ten years after his first Paris show in 1947, Dior died of a heart attack at the age of 52. A series of directors took over, including famed designers Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, Gianfranco Ferre, and since 2016 Maria Grazia Chiuri has been at the helm at the House of Dior.
After a successful debut in Paris that followed with runs in London and Shanghai, Dior’s massive retrospective has arrived in New York City. At the Brooklyn Museum, the exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams explores the more than seventy-year history of the House of Dior. The retrospective includes over two hundred haute couture garments and photographs, archival videos, sketches, vintage perfume elements, accessories, and works from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection.
The exhibition also brings to life Dior’s many sources of inspiration, the splendor of flowers and other natural forms to classical and contemporary art. These elements would influence the designers at the House of Dior for decades. The central atrium of the museum’s court has been transformed into an “enchanted garden” with a final gallery space showcasing celebrated dresses worn by movie stars from Grace Kelly to more recent celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence. The exhibit also includes galleries dedicated to those directors who continued to innovate and build the Dior brand without Dior.
A new addition to the Brooklyn Museum’s Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams includes works by prominent American photographers, including Irving Penn, David Lachappelle, Annie Leibovitz, Lillian Bassman, and Henry Clarke with Richard Avedon‘s famous Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Paris (1955).
“As early as 1947 with his celebrated ‘New Look’ collection, Christian Dior transformed his sudden name recognition into the international expansion of his House, becoming a precursor of contemporary globalized fashion,” explained Frances Müller, curator of the retrospective. “The opening of the first New York branch, in 1948, was a prelude to this worldwide fame. Following on from the presentation of Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams in Paris and London, the new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum pays tribute to this unique historic fashion adventure initiated between Paris and New York.”
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Brooklyn Museum, in New York City, through February 20, 2022.
