Designer Marc Bohan, who died last Friday at the age of 97, achieved something that most designers today can only dream of. He headed the French luxury fashion house Dior for almost three decades – longer than even its founder and namesake, Christian Dior. FashionUnited looks back on his extraordinary career at Dior.
From a gap filler to the longest creative director of all time
Bohan began his time at Dior in 1958 as part of the Maison’s design team. Only two years later he was supposed to take on the role of head couturier for Dior, but was only seen as a gap-filler, as no one could have suspected that he would only leave the fashion house after almost 30 years. The then 34-year-old was actually only supposed to keep the position warm for Yves Saint Laurent, who ran Dior at the time but was called up by the French army during the Algerian War of Independence. However, after a nervous breakdown in the army, he never returned to Dior. According to the industry magazine Women’s Wear Daily, Bohan’s contract was changed from temporary to permanent.
At the helm of Dior, Bohan experienced the changing times and still insisted on timeless designs, without losing sight of the zeitgeist and the changing desires of women. The woman and therefore the customer was his focus anyway. “I make clothes for real women, not for myself, not for mannequins and not for fashion magazines,” he said in an interview with WWD to mark his 25th anniversary at Dior. “I like to leave the abstract creations to others.”
Clothing for real women in a changing time
While nothing is as constant in fashion as change, Bohan’s style has remained constant throughout the years at Dior. He created feminine clothing, not exactly subversive, if not even somewhat conservative, which was particularly popular with his wealthy customers. Tailoring was at the heart of what Bohan created and the designer did not forget the legacy of Christian Dior himself. Just like Dior, Bohan also emphasized femininity in his designs and elements such as narrow waists, wide skirts and tailored jackets that were reminiscent of Christian Dior’s iconic “New Look” were not uncommon.
At least until the designer introduced the “Slim Look” in 1961. Inspired by the emerging mod culture, Bohan gave Dior a new, modern style. “The silhouette is supple, slim, the shoulders are natural, the waist is flowing, the hips are very flat,” said the press release for the collection at the time, as stated in the book “Dior by Marc Bohan – A Look at Dior’s Rich History” published by Dior ” reveals. From this point on, Bohan navigated the ever-changing fashion landscape with finesse. He won over a new audience with his modern, humorous designs, while at the same time ensuring that his loyal customers found support in classic silhouettes.
Bohan devoted the second half of his illustrious and long career at Dior to art, a source of inspiration that all too often flows into fashion. A particularly influential figure during this time was the artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who once worked as a Dior model before becoming Bohan’s muse. At the time, no one could have imagined that this collaboration would bear fruit again years later on the Dior catwalk. But for Dior’s Spring/Summer 2018 show, acting creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri looked back into the archive.
“My childhood and youth were accompanied by Marc Bohan’s creations for Dior. He was a great innovator who managed to imbue a charismatic house like Dior with all the vitality of the sixties and fully reflect the spirit of the times,” said the designer in a post by the brand on Instagram. “When I came to Dior, I studied his work intensively and he inspired me to create many collections, including one with feminist artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who was one of his best friends.”
Takeover by LVMH and the farewell to Bohan
The beginning of the end of the designer’s time at Dior is difficult to date, but a connection with the takeover of the Boussac textile group, which owned Dior at the time, by the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH in 1984 is obvious.
Five years later, Italian designer Gianfranco Ferré took over for Bohan – a move that The Times newspaper attributes primarily to the alleged lack of success of the fashion house’s ready-to-wear collections. Bohan established Dior as the number one for couture clothing and made-to-order pieces, but his ready-to-wear designs were never crowned with the same success. A fate that might sound familiar to some current designers.
Bottom line, Bohan was an old guard designer. Clothing came before publicity and couture came before ready-to-wear. Although he was ultimately largely unknown outside fashion circles, his designs endured through endless fashion cycles, and while he may not have defined them, he never allowed them to define him either. That may have been easier in his time, as Bohan worked in an era before fashion became mass entertainment and when designers were still expected to deliver first-class tailoring rather than grandiose visions – but it raises the question of whether it’s about time that the fashion industry is returning to its origins.