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dary Images
I
t’s shuddering to think that
had Christian Dior’s legendary
haute couture dresses remained
sketched-out lines pencilled in
private, they would not have
become the treasured artistic
photographic images that we can
truly admire.
Dior: The Legendary
Images
edited by Florence Müller,
an art and fashion historian as
well as a professor at the Institut
Français de la Mode, celebrates the
intersection between the history
of Christian Dior and the golden
age of fashion photography. The
book published to accompany
an exhibition of the same name
at the Musée Christian Dior in
Granville, France from 3rd May to
21st September 2014 presents a
wealth of photographs that brings
the couturier’s dresses to life with
each photographer interpreting
them in his or her unique style.
This coffee-table book divided
into five sections, truly gives an
insight into Christian Dior and his
work from the perspective of the
photographers and through the
eyes of their individual lens.
In the Preface and Introduction,
Jean-Paul Claverie, President of
the Présence de Christian Dior
Association and curator Florence
Müller give their individual
perspective of how fashion
photography has contributed
to Dior’s worldwide success
from the moment his fashion
house was founded. For example,
American photographer Pat
English documented his first
collection presented in the
salons of 30 Avenue Montaigne
in 1947. The pictures published
in
Life
magazine, believed to be
the only ones in existence of the
collection, showed the world that
a ‘flower woman’ had bloomed in
Paris, born from the couturier’s
visionary genius: clinched-in waist,
rounded shoulders, an elegant
silhouette with voluminous fabric.
It was during this era that the press
was in its golden age and the ‘New
Look’ was gaining momentum,
inspiring the words of journalists
everywhere.
In this amazing book, with 90 black
and white and colour imagery, we
discover the unique ways in which
Dior’s outfits were photographed
by the likes of Richard Avedon,
Irving Penn, Henry Clarke and
bite
books
© Inez van Lamsweerde et Vinoodh Matadin robe de la collection Prêt-à-Porter automne 2012
© Henry Clarke Haute Couture printemps-été 1956
© Cecil Beaton Haute Couture automne-hiver 1951