Christian Dior's visit to NK, Nordiska Kompaniet, in Stockholm, February 1957. People, including Kurt Jacobsson, standing in a corridor. Photograph taken in February 1957 (Known event).
In 1923, a young Christian graduated from the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. His parents were intent on him becoming a diplomat; thus, he enrolled at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, but this was not meant to be, and he dropped out in 1926. This is the story of how a dropout became one of the biggest names ever in fashion: Christian Dior.
At first presumption, one would have been inclined to think a global fashion icon would have at least come from a background in fashion. But when it comes to Dior, the answer is far more interesting. Dior, with his friend Jacques Bonjean, and with some funding from his father, opened an art gallery at 34 rue La Boétie. Dior himself later recalled that their ambition was to exhibit the artists they admired most, specifically naming Picasso, Braque and Matisse.
Building at the intersection of Rue La Boétie and Rue de Miromesnil (Paris, 8th arrondissement).
So, Picasso was part of Dior's intellectual and artistic environment when Dior was a young man. It seems idealistic that Dior was not just a designer but an artist. Those exaggerated waists were not just a 'New Look', but shaped by his appreciation of fine art and things that pleased the eye.
Where this story is really interesting is when Christian Dior was young in Normandy, he had his palm read by a fortune teller. She supposedly told him that women would be central to his future and that through women he would achieve success and make a great deal of money. Dior remembered this prediction for the rest of his life.
Remarkably, it became almost prophetic. Dior went on to create a fashion empire whose entire commercial and creative world was built around women; they became the central figures through which his name became internationally successful.
The interesting thing is that Dior believed in the prediction. By the time he was establishing his own couture house, consulting a clairvoyant had become a regular part of his life. The Dior archive describes his consultations with Madame Delahaye, who became an important influence on his decisions. Dior was extremely superstitious; he even carried lucky objects with him, including: a gold star, a four-leaf clover, lily of the valley, hearts and a piece of wood. All objects that Dior associated with destiny.
Dior didn't keep his superstition completely separate from his work. Stars, hearts, flowers, lucky numbers and other symbols repeatedly appeared within the Dior empire. And this is one reason Dior's mysticism has been repeatedly revisited by later creative directors.
Dior / Maria Grazia Chiuri, Spring/Summer 2021 Haute Couture.
Maria Grazia Chiuri's Dior Spring/Summer 2021 Haute Couture collection directly explored tarot. She researched the 15th-century Visconti-Sforza tarot deck, incorporating its imagery and medieval symbolism into the collection. The collection included garments representing tarot archetypes such as The Fool, with medieval silhouettes and elaborate symbolic decoration.