Welcome to La Galerie Dior!
The application allows you to enrich your visit and discover exclusive content.
Welcome to La Galerie Dior!
The application allows you to enrich your visit and discover exclusive content.
09
The architecture of a dress
The House of Dior, which began with just three ateliers back in 1947, had amassed 28 by 1953, each home to 20 to 40 workers.
“I wanted to be an architect; being a designer, I have to follow the laws, the principles of architecture. A dress is constructed, and it is constructed according to the fabric grain, which is the secret of couture, a secret that depends on the first law of architecture, obeying the laws of gravity.”
For a sketch to evolve to the final look, several fitting sessions are needed, and the perfection of a collection at the time required 9,000 metres of fabric and 35 km of toiles to test the patterns. To be successful, the pieces simply must be well cut and well sewn: “the real job is to get all the hands that cut, sew, try on, and embroider to express all I have felt,” Christian Dior explained.
Wishing to create “structured” dresses, Christian Dior began lining his fabrics with percale or taffeta right from the start, while strengthening the hems with calico, all to give more substance to his looks. Under Marguerite Carré’s direction, the ateliers recovered or invented the techniques which, together, would become the “Dior hand”, slightly more perfected with every new silhouette for each season, and preserved to this day by the Creative Directors who succeeded Monsieur Dior.
Next Room
10
The Dior Ball
09
The architecture of a dress
The House of Dior, which began with just three ateliers back in 1947, had amassed 28 by 1953, each home to 20 to 40 workers.
“I wanted to be an architect; being a designer, I have to follow the laws, the principles of architecture. A dress is constructed, and it is constructed according to the fabric grain, which is the secret of couture, a secret that depends on the first law of architecture, obeying the laws of gravity.”
For a sketch to evolve to the final look, several fitting sessions are needed, and the perfection of a collection at the time required 9,000 metres of fabric and 35 km of toiles to test the patterns. To be successful, the pieces simply must be well cut and well sewn: “the real job is to get all the hands that cut, sew, try on, and embroider to express all I have felt,” Christian Dior explained.
Wishing to create “structured” dresses, Christian Dior began lining his fabrics with percale or taffeta right from the start, while strengthening the hems with calico, all to give more substance to his looks. Under Marguerite Carré’s direction, the ateliers recovered or invented the techniques which, together, would become the “Dior hand”, slightly more perfected with every new silhouette for each season, and preserved to this day by the Creative Directors who succeeded Monsieur Dior.