French couturier; the creator of the “New Look” in Parisian design after WWII.
His wealthy family owned a French fertilizer business and they lived in the seaside town of Granville in Normandy. He was close to his mother, Madeleine and grew up in a happy and loved boyhood. At the age of 14, a palmist told the young boy he would suffer poverty but achieve success by his association with women. His first career choice was as an architect, though his parents felt that architecture was not in keeping of their son’s social status. He planned a career in diplomacy and studied political science, dabbled in music, painting, and even tapestry-making in Paris during the 1920s and ’30s. At 23, he decided to be an art dealer but poor health made him give up the gallery in 1934.
His parents bankrolled his career endeavors but when his father went bankrupt in 1935, Dior was forced to find work to support himself. He had an interest in designing fashion attire and in 1935 he found work as a sketch artist for the couture house of Piguet. He moved into a better position at the house of Lucien Lelong when WW II broke out in Paris. Dior suffered poverty with other Parisians and longed for the end of the days of food rations. He befriended France’s “King Cotton”, Marcel Boussac, a textile industrialist interested in backing the fashion designer and opened the Dior house in 1946.
On 2/12/1947 at 10.30 AM in a Parisian mansion, Dior created history when his clothes were viewed by the Parisian couture audience. It was called the “New Look” and within days of his debut he was a household name. He banished the post-WW II austerity of narrow, short skirts and wide shoulders. He brought back the hour glass shape of a woman, dropped hemlines that swirled from the waist and dresses that used 15 to 50 yards of fabric, unheard of in the time of shortages, black markets and hardships. The fashion world was captivated and wanted Dior’s creations to succeed, for many people were tired of the grim times of Paris and were looking forward to an optimistic change.
By 1950, Dior was the French fashion cultural export to the world over his competitors Cristobal Balenciaga and Chanel. The rich and famous clamored for his sensational designs, such as Princess Margaret, Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, Eva Peron, Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Mitford and the Duchess of Windsor. He understood the business world as well as fashion taste and in 1950 set up a licensing department. After 35 years the Dior name has 200 licenses. In 11 years, he designed 21 collections and after his death a young Yves Saint Laurent continued the Dior look.
Dior was a private, timid man who became racked with self-doubt before the showcase of his new collections. He was discreetly gay, never married and preferred the social company of maternal women. A classic perfectionist, he was charming, unassuming and quiet. He loved to eat rich food, gamble and play canasta but for the most part, tended not to socialize, only to visit the homes of a few select close friends. His personal life never had the success of his public life. Left feeling ugly and unhappy by a series of failed love affairs with younger men, the designer who made so many women feel beautiful never felt attractive himself. He died suddenly of a fatal heart attack on 10/24/1957 at 10:30 PM in Montecatini, Italy.
Link to Wikipedia biography