Ua boutique, a museum, even a hotel. The old / new Shop of Christian Dior at 30 Avenue Montaigne designed by Peter Marino to Pariswhich has just reopened after more than two years of renovations, is all of this – indeed, something more.
The Maison’s largest boutique in the world
Approximately 1000 square meters, the largest of the Maison, was born from a visionary idea of the ceo Pietro Beccari when he arrived at Dior in 2018. And it presents itself to customers not only as a simple single-brand store, but rather as a home in which to experience the essence of the brand, rediscover its origins and savor all the news. Strong piece, La Galeriethe largest permanent exhibition space in the hands of a private fashion house.
A space in La Galerie Dior, Paris (Photo: Kristen Pelou).
A sort of treasure chest: on the other hand, the founder himself liked to define 30 Avenue Montaigne as a «refuge of the marvelous». It is at this address that he opens his first boutique, Colifichets, which sells gifts and household items. The historic halls, the scene of dozens of early parades, are now preparing to host dinners and special events, a bit like in the past.
Always the cradle of the atelier, now also of high jewelery
The dream atmosphere hasn’t changed, as has the savoir-faire. Under the same roof are also the Haute Couture atelierwho have resided in the building since the designer inaugurated the exclusive location in December 1946, just weeks before presenting his first collection and launching his New Look. Since the reopening in 2022, the Dior store in Paris has been joined by the laboratory of High Jewelerywhere customers can order bespoke pieces.
The Ateliers of Dreams, La Galerie Dior, Paris (Photo: Kristen Pelou).
The Dior restaurant and patisserie
30 Montaigne also offers a restaurant, Monsieur Diorit’s a pastry shopcomplete with a garden area divided into three gardens with tropical trees and flower beds, the result of the work of the Belgian landscape architect Peter Wirtz.
Designer sweets, available in the patisserie area of the shop (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
Both venues are managed by French chef Jean Imbert, who also oversees the Café Dior adjacent to the exhibition gallery: and, needless to say, it is possible to order dishes and designer sweets.
Monsieur Dior, the restaurant at 30 Avenue Montaigne (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
Finally, an area dedicated to the beauty treatments of the e The Dior Suitea private apartment whose keys offer guests the entire management of the building, with a dedicated staff of six to eight people 24 hours a day, from chefs to personal shoppers. A place, the latter, for a few, in the face of many areas within everyone’s reach.
A casket that contains the treasures of the brand
There is little that the Dior store in Paris, in 2022, does not offer. In addition to the entire prêt-à-porter range and accessories for women and men (and an adjacent space for the child), a customization for bags, shoes and eyewear, a corner dedicated to knitwear and homewear.
The footwear exhibition in the Dior store in Paris (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
Combination of art and fashion
Women’s shoes are displayed alongside a video installation of flowers in motion commissioned by the multimedia artist Jennifer Steinkamp; the male VIP client space leads to a winter Garden enclosed in glass, where a colorful steel structure by John Chamberlain welcomes visitors on comfortable sofas and exotic plants.
One of the gardens of the Dior store in Paris (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
The space in fact also presents original artworkincluding a suspended installation by Paul Cocksedge in the entrance rotunda and an 8-meter-high rose sculpture by Isa Genzken towering above the circular staircase in the center of the boutique.
The bags exclusively for 30 Avenue Montaigne
To celebrate the opening, 30 Avenue Montaigne offers a series of exclusive products. Special boxes with the legendary bags inside Lady Dior, Dior Dear, 30 Montaigne And Saddle, each proposed in four miniature versions embroidered ad hoc. Strong piece, the limited edition bag that replicates the external facade of the buildingdesigned in collaboration with the artist Penny Slinger, already known for having worked with Maria Grazia Chiuri on her Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2019/2020 line.
The limited edition Lady Dior bag that replicates the exterior facade of the building (Photo: Dior).
Unmissable stop: La Galerie Dior
Bridges between past and present, symbolized through a series of secret passages that lead from one environment to another. Let yourself be guided: even if in no other place is history more alive than it La Galerie de Dior, curated by Olivier Flaviano, the former director of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris.
Diorama, La Galerie Dior, Paris (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
The scenography is by interior architect Nathalie Crinière, who conceived the retrospective of the 70th anniversary of the brand at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (2017). Another 1000 square meters, divided into 13 thematic spaces which house 130 haute couture dresses and about 200 exclusive accessories, as well as dozens of unpublished archival documents and toile dressesthe canvas models from which the creations in the atelier are born.
What to see and how to visit it
For the public, it is open every day except Tuesdays from 11:00 to 19:00, with admission at 12 euros. The first guest? The actress and ambassador Anya Taylor Joy.
Visitors take the elevator up to the third floor and exit a spiral staircase with spectacular décor made up of 1,874 color-coded objects, already protagonists of cult shots on Instagram: a real Diorama.
Diorama, La Galerie Dior, Paris (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
Not to be missed: Diorama
452 miniature dresses and 1,422 3D printed items, including small-scale models of the bags Saddle And Lady Dior. The exhibition opens with the iconic jacket Bar, in a room that explores the different facets of the couturier’s 10 years at the helm of the house. Not only that: it is possible to enter in the room that was his office from 1946 to about 1952, with the original desk of the time and its collection of fabric samples. Or peek through a glass floor into the original wooden cubicle where models wore their makeup and combed their hair, which has been decorated to look like it is still in use. In fact, the building continued to host fashion shows until 1981.
The Dior Ball, La Galerie Dior, Paris (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
The halls not to be missed
A separate room highlights the work of all the subsequent artistic directors of the brand: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri. Further rooms explore. among other things, Dior’s relationship with artists and his previous career as a gallery owner; but also a excursus of celebrities in Diorwith unique dresses, such as the midnight blue satin petticoat that Princess Diana wore at the 1996 Met Gala. Mandatory stops, the ballroom with 30 old models, and the Chambre aux Merveilles, a chamber of curiosities, which presents objects very special, ranging from Dior’s first collection in 1947 to the latest models from Chiuri’s Haute Couture show.
Christian Dior’s Bar jacket on display at La Galerie Dior (Photo: Dior / Kristen Pelou).
Beccari said he expects the gallery, which can accommodate up to 335 people at a time, to be full more or less every day: for the week of Easter 2022 is already sold out. As they say, Paris is well worth a mass: in the specific case of Dior 30 Montaigne, at least a visit.
iO Donna © REPRODUCTION RESERVED