Christian Dior Brooklyn Museum Exhibition Touts New York Influence

Christian Dior Brooklyn Museum Exhibition Touts New York Influence

The New Look is arriving in New York once again.

After stops in London, Shanghai and Chengdu, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” will mark its U.S. debut Friday at the Brooklyn Museum.

The exhibition explores the house’s 70-plus-year history through 300 garments, photos, videos, sketches, accessories and perfume ephemera, augmented by art works from the museum’s collection.

There is a new focus on New York’s indelible impact on the history of the French house, and the rise of more affordable luxury.

That began when Christian Dior laid the groundwork for the luxury fashion business we know today by opening his international wholesale high-fashion ready-to-wear house in 1948 at 730 Fifth Avenue, with its own French-conceived, New York-made Christian Dior New York collection.

And the influence has continued today, with Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri soaking in New York inspiration high-and-low, from Sarah Jessica Parker’s signature T-shirt and tulle skirt look in the TV series “Sex and the City,” to the Brooklyn Museum’s female-focused art collection.

“When I came to Dior, I was obsessed — the first thing I said is, ‘we’re doing the exhibition in Paris, but after my dream is to have it in New York.’ Finally, after five years, we have the exhibition in New York,” said Chiuri, who joined the house in 2016 and will be at the museum for the opening party on Wednesday night and a virtual talk with artist Judy Chicago on Friday.

The Brooklyn Museum holds a special place in Chiuri’s heart as the nation’s only major museum to have galleries and a collection dedicated to feminist art, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center. The designer’s work at Dior has been intertwined with feminism since her spring 2017 rtw debut collection featured Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s manifesto “We Should All Be Feminists” emblazoned across a T-shirt paired with a midnight tulle skirt.

That T-shirt is front and center in a gallery dedicated to Chiuri’s contributions, with Judy Chicago drawings and test dinner plates for “The Dinner Table” nearby. Chiuri was so affected by seeing that monumental work, completed between 1974 and 1979, with intricate place settings laid out for 39 historical feminist icons, she reached out to collaborate with the artist on the runway set for her spring 2020 couture show.

“It’s my favorite place in New York,” said the designer of the museum.

The exhibition has a special focus on The New Look in New York.

When Dior arrived in New York City for the first time on Aug. 28, 1947, it was just months after his first couture collection presentation in Paris, when he answered wartime rationing and austerity with the ultra-romantic, cinched-waist, full-skirted New Look, named such by Harper’s Bazaar U.S. editor Carmel Snow.

Neiman Marcus gave Dior its “Oscar” Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion, prompting the designer to embark on a trip through the U.S.

While the fashion press applauded, some American women protested, balking at the formality and longer hems of The New Look after the freedom feeling of the practical clothing they wore while working in the factories supporting the war effort. In Chicago, the designer was greeted with signs that read “Dior Go Home” and “Women Join the Fight for Freedom in Manner of Dress,” as seen in photos in the show.

Nevertheless, fashion-forward department stores, Hollywood stars such as Rita Hayworth and wealthy American clients such as Thelma Chrysler Foy snapped up The New Look, rekindling the influence of French haute couture, which had been interrupted during the war.

But couture had a limited clientele.

While touring major U.S. cities during his trip, Dior noticed American women were purchasing stylish off-the-rack clothing in standard sizes. The designer saw his real opportunity was in the middle class with rtw. If Seventh Avenue was already adapting French designs at lower prices, why shouldn’t he do it himself?

“Mr. Dior understood immediately that American women had a different style of life than French women, so he decided to reproduce the collection in a way that was more functional for the women in New York,” said Chiuri. “We need to remember women in New York started to work much earlier than in Europe. He understood in the USA, women were required to be elegant but at the same time, they want to move, they want to walk, they want to work and drive. I think that was very important for him to be in a conversation with American women.”

“He demonstrated that apart from being an incredible and exceptional creative person, he was also a good businessman,” Pietro Beccari, chairman and chief executive officer of Christian Dior, told WWD, noting that through seeing women protesting The New Look, Dior “learned about people from different regions of the world,” giving him insight other French couturiers did not have at the time.

A Dior quote in the exhibition reads: “The ways of life are important and you feel them better when you are in the right country.”

In October 1948, Dior opened a New York atelier and showroom designed by Nicolas de Gunzburg, channeling the gray-and-white interior of the original Paris maison. Lady Mendl, Marlene Dietrich and Mrs. Byron Foy attended.

Christian Dior New York collections were tailored to American tastes, with more relaxed fits, less décolletage, more restrained volumes and customizable skirt lengths. And they were sold to department stores across the country, including Lord & Taylor and Filene’s.

Through his experience in New York, Dior created a business model other European brands would follow when entering international markets.

Open through Feb. 20, 2022, the exhibition was curated by Dior scholar Florence Müller, Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art and Fashion at the Denver Art Museum, in collaboration with Matthew Yokobosky, senior curator of fashion and material culture at the Brooklyn Museum.

Never seen before, a dozen Christian Dior New York looks open the exhibition, along with postcards and press clippings documenting the designer’s trips to America. Of particular note is a grouping of black architectural dresses from the 1950s, next to a Charles Eames screen, to highlight the American impulse to democratize good design, and trailblazing New York artist Louise Nevelson’s famous black sculpture “First Personage.”

It’s interesting to see the Christian Dior New York looks contrasted with a trio of haute couture pieces; one notices the ease in the sleeves and waistlines of the American styles, compared to the more rigid haute couture New Look Bar jacket and skirt, for example.

“He wanted to capture movement, and you see the bow that goes up like an arrow, this is exaggerated in the 1948 red ‘Arizona’ haute couture coat, but in the 1949 red Dior New York ‘Cigare’ dress, you get the same idea of something ascendant with the collar, the hips framed by pockets, but more subtle and wearable,” explained Muller. “In France we have more a pyramidal vision of society.…It was more difficult this idea of ready-to-wear for everyone. Dior’s discovery of the U.S. was an inspiration.”

“The reason for Dior New York was partially financial because of import issues, but also to bring it to a larger audience,” added Yokobosky, noting that prices of the collection were on par with designer rtw today.

Another treasure is Dior’s 31-inch Fashion Doll 1880 (Afternoon Ensemble), which entered the Brooklyn Museum’s collection in 1949, making it the first U.S. museum to acquire a Dior. The doll was included in France’s “Merci Train” of thank you gifts to the U.S. following World War II, Yokobosky said.

New to the Brooklyn exhibition is a visually striking section dedicated to the leading American photographers who helped sell the image of Dior around the world, including Lillian Bassman, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, William Horst P. Horst, William Klein, David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Herb Ritts, Cass Bird and Tyler Mitchell.

Richard Avedon’s iconic “Dovima With Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior” photograph from 1955 is juxtaposed with the actual Dior haute couture gown it pictures from fall 1955. There is also a photo from Marilyn Monroe’s 1962 “The Last Sitting” with Bert Stern. Although it was uncredited, because Monroe died before the fashion editorial had a chance to come out, she was wearing Dior.

Looks by artistic directors who succeeded Dior — Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Chiuri –– are also included, with the designers’ sketches, inspirations and mood boards. Five Bohan dresses are new to this exhibition, as is a YSL pink trapeze dress from 1958, exemplifying how he took Dior in a very different direction during his brief tenure, freeing the waist.

“I hope people see how the history of the brand was shaped by so many, because sometimes when we speak about Dior, we don’t realize how many designers worked at this brand, and it’s very important because it’s not only the history of Mr. Dior, but also Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan and John Galliano,” said Chiuri, the first woman to head Dior, who has brought an activist streak to the brand echoed all the way back to the protesters Dior first encountered in the U.S..

One of the most Instagrammable sections, the museum’s 10,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts Court has been transformed into an enchanted garden of 102 dazzling embroidered and flower-covered dresses in vertical displays reaching to the ceiling.

There is also a room devoted to Hollywood, with gowns worn by Rita Hayworth, Dietrich, Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Charlize Theron, among others. Also included are two recent acquisitions — the embroidered top and short skirt worn by freshly minted Dior ambassador Yara Shahidi to the 2021 Critics Choice Awards, and the Dior cape customized with the names of female directors snubbed by the Academy worn by Natalie Portman to the 2020 Oscars.

Since opening at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2017, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” has been seen by more than 3 million people, said Beccari. “What I sense is whoever goes comes out with a Dior tattoo because they understand the richness, the complexity of this house, which is among the most sacred in luxury today,” he said. “We believe in their power, so we invest a substantial amount of money to have these exhibitions around the world with a local twist.”

The next stop will be the M7 arts center in Doha, Quatar in 2022.

The Brooklyn Museum exhibition comes at a moment when Dior is investing heavily in the U.S. market with the opening of a 6,480-square-foot temporary boutique at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, new retail locations in Santa Clara and San Diego; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Houston and Orlando, Fla., and renovated stores in Manhattan and The Shops at Crystals in Las Vegas.

“It is a fundamental market for Dior. American clients are racking up in placement to some of our most important clients, it’s true for men, women and jewelry,” said Beccari. “We will continue pushing the market share in the years to come.”

The Dior exhibit is a must-see show in NYC this fall

The Brooklyn Museum is giving The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute a run for its money this year with its high fashion exhibit featuring the House of Dior.

The museum is establishing itself as a destination for major surveys of fashion, following incredible exhibits like “Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion” and “The Queen and The Crown: A Virtual Exhibition of Costumes from The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown.” This year, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” continues that trend.

“The Brooklyn Museum has a long record of recognizing important contributions in the history of fashion design, from ‘The Story of Silk (1934)’ to the groundbreaking ‘Of Men Only (1976)’ to the recent ‘Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion (2019’) and now ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams.’ Each exemplifies the power of fashion to influence and shift visual culture at large,” says Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.

Opening September 10, the major exhibit — co-curated by Dior scholar Florence Müller of the Avenir Foundation Curator of Textile Art and Fashion at the Denver Art Museum — thoroughly explores the high fashion history of The House of Dior, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century, when the brand’s namesake Christian Dior founded the label.

RECOMMENDED: An immersive Bill Cunningham exhibit is opening downtown

Photograph: Delia Barth

The multi-gallery exhibit brings many of Dior’s sources of inspiration to life, including flowers, nature, classical and contemporary art, featuring artwork from the Brooklyn Museum’s collections. Objects on display will be primarily from the extensive Dior archives and some 200 haute couture garments as well as photographs, archival videos, sketches, vintage perfume elements, and accessories.

Below are five things you can expect to do at “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams:”

You’ll be transported to an ethereal world of fashion

The Brooklyn Museum wastes no time transporting visitors into the world of Dior — as you enter the circular exhibit, you’re met with a video of models strutting down the catwalk in their Dior duds and you’re quickly thrust into mid-20th century fashions that the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe once wore.

The entire exhibit is set up across two rings — an outer ring, which features separate sections detailing the history, the legacy and the inspiration of Christian Dior, and the inner ring, where “The Enchanted Garden” exists.

While looks are modeled on mannequins along the walls, some of them are pulled out to give you a 360-degree view. But once you enter the Enchanted Garden, the exhibit crescendos into an immersive space where the fashions become part of the landscape and seemingly float up to the ballroom’s ceiling and projections of clouds and birds move across the walls.

Whether you choose to go right into the Enchanted Garden or peruse the outer ring, which also uses lighting and thoughtful showcasing, the exhibit’s creative design allows you to delve right into the subject matter at hand.

Photograph: Delia Barth

You’ll get up close to the most incredible garments

Seeing Dior up close is a different experience than seeing it on TV or in a magazine. The exhibit allows you to actually see the intricate embroidery, trim and lace, and construction of every piece (except, of course, the ones near the actual ceiling).

And every piece is its own masterpiece. The timeless ball gowns, the chic suits and the form-fitting jackets all require their own spotlight and they shine.

Photograph: Shaye Weaver/Time Out

You’ll see the iconic fashion photographs

There’s an entire section of fashion photographs by world-renowned photographers like Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Gordon Parks and Richard Rutledge featuring Dior creations.

These images are largely what comes to mind when many of us think of Dior — perfectly ornamented models and celebrities in the most tailored and polished designer apparel. Seeing them all in one space is awe-inspiring not only of the clothing in the pictures but of the sheer beauty of the photos themselves, black and white and in dramatic color.

Photograph: Shaye Weaver/Time Out

You’ll see the stars who wore it all

In a section called “Stars in Dior,” which is covered with literal projected stars, you get to see the exact Dior outfits worn by celebrities across time from Rihanna to Princess Diana. Each getup is paired with a photo of the celebrity that wore it, so you can see it in form and in use.

Photograph: Shaye Weaver/Time Out

You’ll see Dior’s legacy

Galleries are also devoted to Dior and the artistic directors who succeeded him—Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, each of which have stunning haute couture on display here.

“Today, the work of Maria Grazia Chiuri has reshaped the Dior dream for a new generation, with a worldview that brings with it inclusivity and respect as key philosophical directives. We couldn’t be more excited to present these innovative, beguiling—and technically outstanding—designs to our audiences,” Yokobosky says.

Photograph: Delia Barth / Time Out

“Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” is on at the Brooklyn Museum September 10, 2021–February 20, 2022. Tickets are $25.

Dior Chronicles Its Legacy at Brooklyn Museum

Dior’s expansive history of couture, beauty, pop culture, and art, is now laid out in room after room of show stopping fashion at the Brooklyn Museum. The new exhibition, titled Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams features hundreds of bar jackets, tea-length skirts, fantastical gowns, accessories, sketches, and photographs that span Dior’s 75-plus years as a top maison. And on Wednesday, September 8—just as New York Fashion Week kicked into high gear—the house celebrated opening day with a star-studed party.

Lorde (who wore a black Dior ball gown and stiletto pumps, her hair pulled tightly back into a chignon) was in attendance, as was Kacey Musgraves, wearing head-to-toe leopard print, and Brittany O’Grady of White Lotus fame. (The latter swept Lorde up in a huge hug, clearly very happy to see the singer). Also in the mix was Dior women’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, who flew in from Paris specifically for the event. As she wandered the Beaux-Arts Court on the third floor, the designer shared a bit about the process of working with the Brooklyn Museum curators to choose the looks featured at the show.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Lorde Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Dior

Brittany O’Grady Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Dior

Kacey Musgraves Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Dior

“I love that, inside the exhibition, you can see all the different designers—not only Mr. Dior,” she said. And indeed, many of the highlights of Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams has very little to do with Christian Dior himself.

Although even Chiuri acknowledges the house founder is “an awesome designer,” who set the standard for French influence on global fashion, the cadre of designers who followed him have made their mark, too. The show, working in chronological order of employment, features pieces from former heads of house including Yves Saint Laurent, who worked alongside Christian Dior for two years; Gianfranco Ferré and his signature dramatic puffed sleeves on silk gowns; Raf Simons, whose section was small but still breathtaking; and, of course, John Galliano (his creations, we noted, prompted the most iPhone photos.)

John Galliano’s section at Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The exhibition runs in a semi-circle, showing highlights from Chiuri’s current era (replete with looks from her very first couture show at Dior, and the famed “We Should All Be Feminists” t-shirt,) and a particularly satisfying color-coded wall of ephemera: Rihanna’s sunglasses, red nail polish and lipstick, miniatures from Dior’s 1945 Théâtre de la Mode.

Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Inside The Garden at the Beaux-Arts Court. Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

The show culminates in “The Garden”—a crescendo where highlights from Dior’s runway through the years play on a loop projected onto the wall. Mannequins wearing sparkling gowns line the walls, and nature sounds play softly into the dreamy space.

Marc Bohan’s section at Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

For all its visual grandeur and resplendency, Chiuri’s favorite part of the exhibition is located in one teeny corner of the designer timeline zone. Marc Bohan’s section, filled with color-blocked suits and skirts from his 30-year career at the house, is a must-see, she said. “He was one of the most important designers [at the house],” Chiuri added. “I think, in some way, he made the most modern women in the history of Dior.”