ART / COSTUME HISTORY CHRISTIAN DIOR Diana DeMarly

Throughout the 1950s Christian Dior was the doyen of international haute couture and Maison Dior was the largest couture house since that of Charles Frederick Worth in the days of the Second Empire. Diana de Marly not only details this important chapter of fashion history with originality and verve, but also re-evaluates Dior "the man" within a fresh historical context.
Dior burst into the international limelight with his first collection in the spring of 1947. Dior wanted to shake off an epoch of war and square-shouldered uniforms with a new look that was both romantic and feminine: glamour was reborn and Dior became an international star couturier almost overnight. But from the beginning Dior caused controversy—his New Look shocked many with its apparent insensitivity to the material hardships suffered by many Europeans in the late 1940s—and Diana de Marly blances this portrait of true eclat with some more general insights into Dior as a modeller of women and leader of fashion, suggesting that the designers of the day required great creative talent to outgrow the current stereotype of woman and truly advance the bounds of fashion. Diana de Marly, an art historian specializing in costume analysis, is the author of The History of Haute Couture 1850-1950, Worth: A Biography, Working Dress, Costume on the Stage 1600-1940, Fashion for Men and Louis XIV and Versailles.
96 pp • 60 illus., bibliog., index • ISBN 0-8419-1278-5 • $24.95 (paper)

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