Christian Dior

Christian Dior was holidaying in the town of Montecatini, Italy, when he suffered from a fatal heart attack on October 24, 1957 that took his life. Though the exact reason for his death is unknown, there are several theories to it.

Following his death, Marcel Boussac sent his private plane to Montecatini to bring back Dior’s body to Paris. A funeral was arranged that was attended by about 2,500 people. Dior was buried in Cimetière de Callian, in Var, France. At the time of his death, Dior's house was earning more than $20 million annually.

His name has been mentioned in several songs by various singers and songwriters. Some of them include Morrisey’s ‘Christian Dior’ song which was a B-side of his 2006 single, ‘In the Future When All’s Well’, and Eva Peron’s song ‘Rainbow High’ from the film ‘Evita.’

Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905, in Normandy, France to a fertilizer manufacturer Maurice and his wife Isabelle Cardamone Dior. He was the second of the five children born to the couple.

When he was five, the Diors shifted base to Paris. Although young Dior aimed to pursue a career as an architect, he succumbed to the pressure of his father who envisioned Dior as a diplomat. Adhering to the latter’s wish, he enrolled at the École des Sciences Politiques to begin his studies in political science.

It was in 1928 that Christian Dior’s passion for art overruled his father’s wishes. He left school and with the money received from his father, started a small art gallery. However, the gallery did not survive for long and during the Great Depression had to be shut down after his father lost control over the family firm, Dior Frères.

Following the closure of the art gallery, Dior was making ends meet by selling his fashion sketches. Years later in 1937, he was employed by fashion designer Robert Piguet, who gave him the opportunity to design for three Piguet collections. It was under Piguet that Dior learned the fine nuances of designing.

With the outbreak of the World War II, Dior left Piguet to serve in the army in the south of France. In 1941 he returned to Paris, and was hired by couturier Lucien Lelong. Lelong’s fashion house was highly esteemed as it dressed up women of both the Nazi and the French collaborators.

In 1946, Christian Dior made the big leap of his career, a leap that eventually transformed the world of fashion and reaffirmed the status of Paris as the World’s Fashion Capital. Backed by textile manufacturer and the richest entrepreneur of France, Marcel Boussac, Dior started his own fashion house, thus starting a legacy that has survived several decades.

With his very first collection, he showed his passion for art and his excellence over creating shapes and silhouettes. He introduced the ‘New Look’, replacing the fabric-conserving shapes of the World War II styles. Dior’s style was a celebration of ultra-femininity and opulence. He introduced rounded shoulders, cinched waist, and full skirts. His bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats gave his models a very curvaceous form.

Christian Dior successfully revolutionized women fashion in the post-war period and effectively re-established Paris as the centre of the fashion world. He gained phenomenal success and a fan following that crossed boundaries. In his little over a decade long career, he gained immense fame and recognition and became one of the most important couturiers of the century. His pompous dresses and opulent styles were highly sought after. Even today, his brand is synonymous with high-end fashion and style.