Fashion career profile
Christian Dior
Christian Dior (1905–1957) was a French couturier who founded one of Paris’s defining post-war fashion houses. Born in Granville, he began higher studies in political science at the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and later opened an art gallery with Jacques Bonjean. After the gallery closed during the Depression, Dior developed a career in fashion illustration and became a model maker for Robert Piguet in 1938 and Lucien Lelong in 1941. With textile entrepreneur Marcel Boussac, he established his own couture house in 1946. Its first collection, shown on 12 February 1947, introduced the silhouette soon called the New Look and made Dior internationally prominent. He quickly expanded the house into perfume and accessories and entered the United States market in 1948. Dior died in 1957; the maison’s later creative leadership belongs to his successors. The profile distinguishes his studies from a completed degree and separates early employers from the house he founded.
- Role
- Founder, Dior
- Nationality
- French
- Age at death
- 52
- Career appointments
- 1
- Fashion houses
- 1
- Lucien Lelong — Model maker1941–End not documented · historical
- Robert Piguet — Model maker1938–End not documented · historical
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- Robert Piguet: Became a model maker for Robert Piguet in 1938This early fashion-house job followed Dior’s work as an art dealer and fashion illustrator. · Musée Christian Dior
- Lucien Lelong: Joined Lucien Lelong as a model maker in 1941The source gives a start year but not a reliable end date, so none is inferred. · Musée Christian Dior
- Christian Dior house: Founded with Marcel Boussac in 1946The company’s creation predates its first collection and the New Look’s public debut in February 1947. · Musée Christian Dior
- New Look: First collection shown on 12 February 1947The cinched waist and full skirt became widely known as the New Look and made Dior internationally prominent. · Musée Christian Dior
- 1938 — Joins Robert Piguet as a model makerDior begins his documented fashion-house career after selling fashion illustrations.
- 1941 — Joins Lucien LelongDior continues as a model maker before founding his own couture house.
- 1946 — Founds the Christian Dior couture houseDior establishes the maison with industrialist Marcel Boussac.
- 1947 — Presents the New Look collectionThe debut collection is shown on 12 February and gives the house international prominence.
- 1946–1957 — Founder and Couturier — DiorHistorical appointment · Dior