You have to hand it to them at Dior: they know how to keep the memory of the dead designer Christian Dior alive. They also know that very well at Chanel of course, but please note: there was a manager mademoiselle her fashion house sixty years, while monsieur Dior only ran his for ten years until he died playing cards at 52. From that decade, and the run-up to it, every sketch and every spool of thread, so to speak, has been preserved.
A large part of the clothing sold that the maestro designed for his private customers was traced and bought back. Those pieces have already been shown to large audiences in traveling exhibitions such as Dior – Designer of Dreams and thematic exhibitions in Dior’s stately childhood home in the Normandy coastal town of Granville, but now they have found a suitable and permanent Parisian home: La Galerie Dior.
This brand new fashion museum is located in the building right next to the large store at 30 Avenue Montaigne, where Dior started its own business in December 1946. The rather inconspicuous entrance to La Galerie is on Avenue François I, where queues of interested people have lined up every day since its official opening. The museum is, as if it were a couture piece, composed with great care and great taste by scenographer Nathalie Criniere.
The beginning alone is an eye-catcher: a high white spiral staircase surrounded by display cases full of miniature dresses, bags, hats and shoes, which are white and pale pink at the beginning, then through red and orange to yellow, green, blue and purple.
The first room opens with the hourglass silhouette of the famous New Look that put Dior on the map in 1947: a sleek white ‘Bar’ jacket with a flared lap on a wide black skirt. Numerous old family photos and documents hang on the walls, which provide insight into how Christian, son of fertilizer manufacturer Maurice Dior, went from art dealer to illustrator eventually became a fashion designer.
A globally celebrated couturier, because in a small display case the cover of time of March 1957 showing Dior with the serious eye on a giant pair of scissors. Here in the semi-darkness are also the oldest designs of the master himself. The original models; later in the museum, replicas were used here and there.
The route continues through the rooms where the administration of Maison Dior used to be done, and press presentations were held – the employees who were there have now moved to a new office on the Champs Elysées. There are corners devoted to romantic dresses with puffs and ruffles and bows, there is a hall of fame for all the designers who have held sway after Christian: Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, John Galliano, Raf Simons and the current super creative Maria Grazia Chiuri.
There are rooms dedicated to collaborations with artists and there is a spacious open studio. There are rows high dozens of white cotton toilets (trial models), and two other craftsmen are always at work. An excellent opportunity to petits mains who usually operate behind the scenes, take a close look.
Glamor abounds too, in a room themed around the color gold and the perfume J’adore and in the hallway with breathtaking dresses worn by Hollywood divas and other stars. The grande finale (also literally grande, because three rows of mannequins high) of La Galerie is a room where 25 enchanting evening dresses from the history of the house are displayed – as shown in the exhibition ddesigner of dreams was the case, with the radiant center of the ‘junon’ petal dress from 1949. There are benches to sit, watch and muse unabashedly about costume balls and endless English waltzes.
Perhaps most beautiful is the heart of La Galerie, where Christian Dior’s workplace has been recreated, complete with the man’s original wooden desk, sketches, Bakelite telephone and ashtray, and the dressing rooms where the models used to prepare for the shows. You can view that space undisturbed through the glass floor of the floor above, which provides a unique insight into the past in all respects. An old film is played on the wall in which the models make up and cut hair in the same room, and laugh and chat, while being watched by the roguishly smiling Christian Dior – the man who is still not really dead 65 years after his death.
Remodeled stores
Also at Dior’s flagship store at 30 Avenue Montaigne, the private hotel built in 1865 for Napoleon I’s illegitimate son Count Walewski, there was a lot of work to be done. After a renovation of two years, the new boutique was decorated in a very luxurious way by the celebrated interior designer Peter Marino, but it is also not so genteel that you as a mere mortal would not dare enter. Those who are not rich, but are a fan, can also go there for a lipstick or a cup of coffee with a cake.
On the ground floor is a separate Dior patisserie with a small garden, and on the first floor is the restaurant Monsieur Dior, where you can eat dishes from Christian’s own recipe book from Dior tableware, but with less fat than the curvy designer himself liked to eat. . For wealthy clients, there are separate couture salons and even a full apartment that can be booked, after which the guest has unlimited access to the boutique and museum. For wellness, the spa of the Plaza Athenée opposite is available.
The only Dior store in our country, at 100 PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam, was also recently renovated and reopened. In addition to the women’s and men’s collections, bags and shoes, designer Victoire de Castellane’s jewelery is also for sale. A second Dutch Dior boutique will open in the autumn on Dam Square in Amsterdam, in the former ABN Amro building.