Dior

Dior

Along with France's history comes the fashion, and one of my favorites fashion designers was Christian Dior. He was born in Granville, France, where he spent most of his childhood surrounded by his middle class family until his mother, Madeleine died, and his father, got ruined because he was an industrial, which led to him having to sell his property. His house stands on a cliff in Granville, Normandy, facing the Channel Islands. It was then bought by the town of Granville and the garden was open to the public in 1938, and in 1997 the villa became the “Christian Dior Museum” dedicated to a French couturier.

As a child, Dior, showed a great interest in the arts and in 1927 his father agreed to help him open an art gallery, but the family name was not allowed to be associated with it. So instead, he used his friend and business partners name, Jacques Bonjean. The gallery was forced to close in 1929, after the financial crash, so Dior worked as an assistant for Robert Piquet. Then he had to abandon his job to serve as a French military officer for a year. After World War II he got a job designing clothes for the Nazi elite. Following that was when Dior remodeled the fashion industry. He created a design scheme that promoted fashions of full skirts with narrow shoulders and waistlines. Dior called the clothing the “Flower Women”, because the shapes resembled flowers. Dior gave the people exactly what they wanted, more feminine garments, and soon, big name celebrities were wearing Dior’s clothes. As Dior became more successful with his clothing lines, women around the world were quickly buying his clothes.

Dior died of heart attack while on holiday in 1957. There were about 2,500 people that showed up to his funeral. Today, Dior's clothing line is still succeeding.