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.
La Galerie Dior
“When the House Christian Dior first opened, it had three Ateliers under the eaves of 30, avenue Montaigne, a tiny studio, a salon in which to show the dresses, a cabine or dressing room for the models, an office, and six small fitting rooms,” recounted Monsieur Dior in his memoirs.
“Haute couture is one of the last repositories of the marvellous, and the couturiers the last possessors of the wand of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.”
“When Maison Christian Dior first opened, it had three Ateliers under the eaves of 30 Avenue Montaigne, a tiny studio, a salon in which to show the dresses, a cabine or dressing room for the models, an office, and six small fitting rooms,” recounted Monsieur Dior in his memoirs. Housed within this “refuge of the marvellous”, La Galerie Dior is a testament to the creativity of Christian Dior and his successors, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and Jonathan Anderson.
For almost eighty years, the collections of the House of Dior have come to life within these walls, starting with the New Look, a landmark moment in the history of fashion. This silhouette, so named by Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of the American magazine Harper’s Bazaar, following Dior’s debut fashion show on 12 February 1947, embodies the poise of a woman asserting her femininity in the post-war period of reconstruction.
La Galerie Dior captures the spirit of Parisian Haute Couture while perpetuating the memory of this historic address, displaying looks, original sketches, and archival documents, as well as accessories and exceptional pieces.
AZZEDINE ALAÏA’S DIOR COLLECTION
La Galerie Dior and the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation are offering an exclusive double exhibition in honour of Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017), a collector and admirer of Christian Dior.
From a young age, Azzedine Alaïa was fascinated by Monsieur Dior’s dresses, which he discovered in magazines and sketched in an attempt to understand their technique. In 1956, he left his native Tunisia to train as a fashion designer in France. Upon arriving in Paris, he joined Dior, where he was immersed into the effervescent atmosphere of a House preparing to present its collection just weeks later. Though his time there was brief, he never forgot those dresses that seemed to “stand up by themselves”, nor the demanding work of the ateliers at 30 Avenue Montaigne.
A fashion designer praised for his mastery of tailoring, Azzedine Alaïa also quickly became an astute fashion collector. From the late 1960s, in the utmost secrecy, he began assembling a major heritage collection reflecting the art of his predecessors, in which Dior had pride of place, as shown through the some 600 pieces now preserved by the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation. Identified and documented thanks to the invaluable collaboration of Dior Héritage, more than a hundred of these works are being displayed for the first time at La Galerie Dior, highlighting the admiration that the designer harboured for Christian Dior himself and his successors, from Yves Saint Laurent to John Galliano.
Put together from the Azzedine Alaïa’s collection, the exhibition explores both the tastes of the couturier-founder and the signature elements of his style: the creation of the line, the sumptuous fabrics and their varied palette, the techniques underlying the architecture of the looks, the balance of a wardrobe worn by clients from morning to evening.
In parallel, the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation presents a special exhibition at its Paris location, this one dedicated to the work of both of these “masters of couture”. About thirty of Christian Dior’s looks, assembled by Azzedine Alaïa and displayed alongside a similar number of Alaïa’s own creations, demonstrate just how much his own art was influenced by the inventor of the New Look.
This dual exhibition offers a new glimpse into the history of Dior through the eye of a couturier-collector, while also revealing a series of captivating correspondences between Christian Dior and Azzedine Alaïa.
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Christian Dior (1905–1957)
La Galerie Dior
“When the House Christian Dior first opened, it had three Ateliers under the eaves of 30, avenue Montaigne, a tiny studio, a salon in which to show the dresses, a cabine or dressing room for the models, an office, and six small fitting rooms,” recounted Monsieur Dior in his memoirs.
“Haute couture is one of the last repositories of the marvellous, and the couturiers the last possessors of the wand of Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.”
“When Maison Christian Dior first opened, it had three Ateliers under the eaves of 30 Avenue Montaigne, a tiny studio, a salon in which to show the dresses, a cabine or dressing room for the models, an office, and six small fitting rooms,” recounted Monsieur Dior in his memoirs. Housed within this “refuge of the marvellous”, La Galerie Dior is a testament to the creativity of Christian Dior and his successors, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, Maria Grazia Chiuri, and Jonathan Anderson.
For almost eighty years, the collections of the House of Dior have come to life within these walls, starting with the New Look, a landmark moment in the history of fashion. This silhouette, so named by Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of the American magazine Harper’s Bazaar, following Dior’s debut fashion show on 12 February 1947, embodies the poise of a woman asserting her femininity in the post-war period of reconstruction.
La Galerie Dior captures the spirit of Parisian Haute Couture while perpetuating the memory of this historic address, displaying looks, original sketches, and archival documents, as well as accessories and exceptional pieces.
AZZEDINE ALAÏA’S DIOR COLLECTION
La Galerie Dior and the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation are offering an exclusive double exhibition in honour of Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017), a collector and admirer of Christian Dior.
From a young age, Azzedine Alaïa was fascinated by Monsieur Dior’s dresses, which he discovered in magazines and sketched in an attempt to understand their technique. In 1956, he left his native Tunisia to train as a fashion designer in France. Upon arriving in Paris, he joined Dior, where he was immersed into the effervescent atmosphere of a House preparing to present its collection just weeks later. Though his time there was brief, he never forgot those dresses that seemed to “stand up by themselves”, nor the demanding work of the ateliers at 30 Avenue Montaigne.
A fashion designer praised for his mastery of tailoring, Azzedine Alaïa also quickly became an astute fashion collector. From the late 1960s, in the utmost secrecy, he began assembling a major heritage collection reflecting the art of his predecessors, in which Dior had pride of place, as shown through the some 600 pieces now preserved by the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation. Identified and documented thanks to the invaluable collaboration of Dior Héritage, more than a hundred of these works are being displayed for the first time at La Galerie Dior, highlighting the admiration that the designer harboured for Christian Dior himself and his successors, from Yves Saint Laurent to John Galliano.
Put together from the Azzedine Alaïa’s collection, the exhibition explores both the tastes of the couturier-founder and the signature elements of his style: the creation of the line, the sumptuous fabrics and their varied palette, the techniques underlying the architecture of the looks, the balance of a wardrobe worn by clients from morning to evening.
In parallel, the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation presents a special exhibition at its Paris location, this one dedicated to the work of both of these “masters of couture”. About thirty of Christian Dior’s looks, assembled by Azzedine Alaïa and displayed alongside a similar number of Alaïa’s own creations, demonstrate just how much his own art was influenced by the inventor of the New Look.
This dual exhibition offers a new glimpse into the history of Dior through the eye of a couturier-collector, while also revealing a series of captivating correspondences between Christian Dior and Azzedine Alaïa.