Granville Museums: 2024 exhibitions

In the protected cocoon of Villa Les Rhumbs, between the festivities of Granvillais and sea bathing, Christian Dior developed a passionate taste for flowers from his mother, who enjoyed reading the catalogs of Parisian seed merchant Vilmorin Andrieux more than reading any novel. This floral inspiration nourished Dior’s first Haute Couture collection in 1947, the “Corolle” silhouette being an implicit homage to the couturier’s childhood garden. It endured throughout the 1947-1957 decade, and infused the creations of Christian Dior‘s successors. The Bonne Année model created for the autumn-winter 1957-1958 collection (Fuseau line), with its delicate embroidery of silver hibiscus flowerses, thus enters into dialogue with a strapless dress embroidered with multicolored flowers designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri for the Prêt-à-porter Spring-Summer 2021 collection. Paying homage to the couturier’s youthful readings, the Maison Dior, through its Dior Maison department, imagined a few decades later a collection of tableware christened “Granville” (2021) inspired by the designer’s motifs. It was also in Granville, at a fair, that Christian Dior first met a fortune-teller whose prediction was decisive: ” You will find yourself without money, but women are good for you and it is through them that you will succeed. You’ll make a lot of money from them, and you’ll have to make a lot of crossings ” (Christian Dior et moi, 1956). From then on, he maintained a special relationship with signs, omens and predictions, including the one that led him to open his own couture house in Paris in 1946. The mythical metal star on which Christian Dior ‘s foot stumbled on the Parisian pavement on the eve of opening his couture house, and which he kept all his life to bring him luck, is magnified in the winter garden of the villa Les Rhumbs. The lily of the valley, the quintessential lucky flower, appears on numerous models and accessories, and today’s designers use it with creativity and fantasy in their collections. Kris Van Assche, artistic director of Dior Homme from 2007 to 2018, sprinkled it on a men’s suit for the autumn-winter 2014-2015 collection.

In a Paris still marked by the deprivations of war, Christian Dior revived the aesthetics of a bygone Belle Epoque, offering dresses imbued with luxury and femininity. The collection began with a multitude of sketches. A selection of these sketches, some made before 1947, provides an insight into the couturier’s creative process: ” I doodle everywhere, in bed, in the bath, at the table, in the car, on foot, in the sun, under the lamp, by day, by night “. (Christian Dior et moi, 1956). The first collection, presented on February 12, 1947 and dubbed ” New Look ” by an American journalist, set the tone for subsequent collections, which came in many variations with evocative names: Cachottière (autumn-winter 1950-1951, Oblique line ), Saphir (autumn-winter 1951-1952, Longue line ) or Mutine (autumn-winter 1954-1955). The unity of tone of these models – black – makes it possible to read the line and understand its importance, closely associated with that of the cut: ” a well-cut dress is a poorly cut dress “. (Christian Dior et moi, 1956). On the white canvases produced by the ateliers, the most fantastical motifs and colors reflect his desire to be a dream-maker. ves, aided by talented designers such as Andrée Brossin de Méré, renowned for the audacity and quality of her fabrics. A selection of samples with animal, floral or architectural motifs opens the way to imagination: they become tailors, ball gowns or cocktail dresses. To achieve a harmonious, coherent silhouette, Christian Dior offers a boutique, Colifichets, on the first floor of 30 avenue Montaigne, where customers can be dressed from head to toe. In addition to accessories, ready-to-wear models were soon added, and in 1955 the ” Christian Dior boutique ” label was born. A strapless cocktail dress in turquoise-blue silk satin embroidered with gold metallic threads, pearly shells, birds and pearls. Shoes, gloves, handbags, jewelry and pantyhose from all eras reveal the spirit that the designer has breathed into his couture house. Perfume, the “finishing touch” to an outfit, also makes an appearance among all these “colifichets”, including the iconic ” Miss Dior “, the first, created as early as 1947. Bottles and presentation boxes were designed to reflect the various codes of the House of Dior: the amphora, the bow and the houndstooth motif. With the prestige of the fashion house behind it, the capital in turn provided Dior with multiple sources of inspiration. Amour (spring-summer 1955), a short dinner dress, represents the A line, directly inspired by the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower.

Christian Dior was not only an artist, but also a seasoned businessman. In just ten years, he managed to breathe new life into the fashion industry by imposing his own aesthetic canons, multiplying licenses abroad, using local suppliers, adapting to a varied clientele and opening stores across the Atlantic.The national and international press supported him in opening stores across the Atlantic. Collections are tailor-made for a foreign clientele, eager to adopt Parisian style while retaining local particularities. The Croisière collections, conceived by Christian Dior as early as 1948, were designed to appeal to a traveling, international clientele. More relevant than ever, these collections, and the sumptuous fashion shows that accompany them, take us to California (2018), Mexico (2019) or Morocco (2020), countries that inspire these creations and are often the setting for their runway shows. Among the destinations that Christian Dior dreamt of as a child in his villa Les Rhumbs, Japan nurtured his creativity, and that of the artistic directors who succeeded him. Surprise (Autumn-Winter 1955-1956 collection, Y line), an ensemble comprising a tunic and skirt in salmon silk brocade, is an invitation to the land of the Rising Sun. Its shape and motifs recall the couturier ‘s fascination with this faraway land, which also inspired a great twentieth-century designer, Charlotte Perriand, two Dior models that belonged to her are presented for the first time following a gift received from her daughter in 2023. A silver jewelry cabinet, offered by the Empress of Japan to Simone Noir, Dior’s first Haute Couture saleswoman in 1947, illustrates, through its delicacy and finesse of execution, both the work of Japanese artists and the close relationship between Japan and the House of Dior.

As the first museum in France entirely dedicated to a fashion designer, the Christian Dior Museum has a very special history. Located in the designer’s childhood home, it owes its existence to the enthusiasm generated by the exhibition “Christian Dior, l’autre lui-même” exhibition organized at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Granville in 1987 to mark the couture house’s fortieth anniversary. The enthusiasm of visitors inspired former collaborators and close friends of Christian Dior to build up a collection that has since been constantly enriched, studied and presented to the public intemporary exhibitions. Brigitte Richart, curator of the Christian Dior Museum and curator of the exhibition.