In the fashion world different creative directors have developed the two major fashion houses Chanel and Dior since the death of the original designer. The question is has this changed their House style beyond recognition?
For this essay I will be looking into how these two fashion houses have changed throughout their history and whether their creative directors have kept the houses original looks or steered them into a completely new direction, I will also be seeing if having five designers in its history is better than having just the two.
Christian Dior opened his couture house "Dior" at 30 avenue Montaigne in 1946 just after the Second World War. Before this he had been a fashion sketcher for various Parisian couture houses and illustrated the fashion pages for the Figaro newspaper, his sketching talent led him to being a designer for Robert Piguet in 1938 he moved to the house of Lucien Lelong in 1941. Five years after his start at Lelong he was able to set up his own couture house when textile tycoon Marcel Boussac decided to finance him and his creations, Dior purchased 30 avenue Montaigne to be the base of his company the building is still home to the house of Dior today.
His first couture collection was shown on the 12th of February 1947, clothes were still scarce due to the post war environment and the everyday women were wearing the sharp shouldered suits with knee length skirts which had been thrown together as makeshift wartime versions of Elsa Schiaparelli's slinky 1930's silhouette, Dior’s show was about to change this. His collection delivered a series of luxurious clothes with softer shoulders, and full flowing skirts, he intended these looks to be for what he called "flower women". Carmel Snow the editor of the Harper's Bazaar magazine told Dior his collection was quite a revelation and that his dresses had such a new look, this was where Dior’s famous bar suit was dubbed as been "the new look". The new look was very well suited for the post war era and was correct in thinking that people wanted a change. His new look was reminiscent to the Belle Époque ideal of long skirts, tiny waists and luxury fabrics that his mother had worn in the early 1900's. His feminine clothes were also a large hit with political agenda as women had been returned to their passive roles as housewife’s and mothers after the war was over Dior’s "flower women" fitted into the typical house wife’s look. His couture house was over run with orders with celebrity and well known clients wanting to wear his creations. Jacques Rouet who was in charge of Dior’s marketing grew the company opening a fur subsidiary and a ready to wear boutique on New York’s 5th avenue as well as launching Dior’s first perfume, which was, named "Miss Dior" with the U.S market in mind. A us hosiery company offered Rouet the fee of $10,000 for the right to manufacture Dior stockings, Dior himself proposed waiving the fee in favor of a percentage of the products sales which introduced the royalty payment system to fashion.
Dior resisted experimentation of look and adhered to his luxurious look with a structured silhouette of padding, starch and corsets which was a great hit with his middle-aged clients. His clients were very conservative so when he named a suit "Jean-Paul Sartre" in honor of the philosopher nobody bought it so he stuck with safer names from then on. Dior also stuck with his more commercial touch for each of his collections, as these seemed to have a higher demand. A coat which he named the "Granville" after his place of birth was always included in his collections, he would also have at least one model to wear a bunch of his favorite flower (lily of the valley), he also never began a couture show without having a consultation with his tarot card reader. His three-piece suit of 1952, which contained a cardigan-jacket, a simple top worn on the outside and a crepe skirt all in pastel colors. Many of his collections included three quarter length sleeves and stoles, which remained popular with clients throughout the 50’s. In 1953 he raised his skirt level just before the knee and paired them with barrel shaped coats and jackets. During his time many oriental inspired clothes including Dior’s version of the Caftan and Cheongsam became fashionable. His final collection inspired by the Vereuse, he created a garment with a stand-away collar and was cut to hang loose on the hips. The collection also included Khaki bush jacket’s with button down flap pockets and a belted Vareuse. Their were also oriental tunik dresses and a beltless Cemise dress with a stand up collar and patch pockets. His outfits would often include a brooch on either the neck, shoulder or waist, there would also be pearl necklaces around most of the models necks. Dior’s favorite color palate consisted of black, navy blue and white. Through out the 50's Dior was the biggest and best run haute couture house is Paris. He had some of the best people working for him on his collections, Raymonde Zehnmacker who ran the studio, Marguerite Carre head of the workshops and Mitza Bricard who was the milliner and chief stylist for the looks. Seamstresses many of whom had worked there since leaving school staffed his ateliers/workrooms. During his haute couture shows which accrued twice a year he would have up to 2500 people in and out of the salon to view his new collection. Each show would be made up of two hundred outfits and could sometimes last up to 3 hours. He would hire different varieties of model shapes to show that his clothes could be suited for a large amount of women, his biggest clients would be Hollywood film stars, New York socialites and department store buyers who bought exclusive rights to individual designs to be made by their own seamstresses.
As the top couture house of Paris Dior attracted the most talented assistants, one was Italian born Pierre Cardin who was Christian Dior’s assistant in the late 40's before he left to begin his own business. Another was the Algerian born designer Yves Saint Laurent who joined the Dior house in 1955 as the star graduate of the Chambre syndicate fashion school. The young Saint Laurent flourished Dior’s feminine atmosphere and contributed thirty-five outfits for the autumn 1957 collection. After the fittings were done for the collection, Dior fled to Montecatini in northern Italy for a spa trip to rest, ten days later Christian Dior died of a heart attack supposedly after choking on a fish bone. A French newspaper Le Monde hailed him as being the man "identified with good taste, the art of living and refined culture that epitomizes Paris to the outside world". Dior’s body was flown back to Paris in Marcel Boussac’s private plane. Around 2,500 people attended Dior’s funeral including all his staff and famous clients who were led by the Duchess of Windsor. Jacques Rouet was considering closure of Dior, which was not taken well by Dior’s licensees and the French fashion industry, as well as many of his clients.
Two weeks later Jacques Rouet held a press conference to announce how the house of Dior would be carried on. He announced that the studio would be ran by Madame Zehnmacker, the couture department would be run by Madame Marguerite Carre and Mitza Bricard would be the collection stylist. Dior’s assistant Yves saint Laurent would be responsible for the sketches and overall designs. The first collection after Christians death was designed in just 9 weeks by Yves Saint Laurent, the clothes were made in perfect proportion as Dior’s himself and were made in similar luxurious fabrics but Laurent had given them a lighter and easier to wear touch. He named this collection the Trapeze line. One design of dress stood out from the rest, it was given the name of the trapeze dress because of its rhombus like shape. Yves Saint Laurent exenterated the colors and shapes of Dior’s designs he was named a national hero. After his succession of his first collection he got more daring. In 1960 his collection named “the beat look” which was inspired by existentialists in the Saint-Germain des pres cafes and jazz clubs. The fashion world and Dior’s financer Marcel Boussac did not accept this Bohemian style as they thought it took away Dior’s classical look. Yves Saint Laurent was called to the French army, which forced him to leave the House of Dior, the management of Dior had no objection to his leaving. Laurent had designed six collections before his leaving.
Laurent was replaced by Marc Bohan in late 1960. Bohan gave Dior a more conservative style for the collections, he made the collections very refined and elegant. In 1961 he created very brief suits in black and white tweed which pleased Dior’s clients as well as bringing in new cliental. His clothes always showed directional styles and cuts, which other brands would follow. Although he gave Dior its original style he began to introduce new radical looks after pleasing his clients frequently. For his 1966 collection he balanced all the elements of typical Dior but gave the looks his own twists. He showed the de rigueur mini skirt with longer coats, which promoted a shift in the hemlines for the current fashion. Bohan was also more discreet with decoration, he would use simple silk blouses and shirtwaist dresses with natural or floral prints to add interest to his creations rather than any over the top gestures which could make garments awkward to wear. He was given credit by Rebecca Arnold as the man who kept Dior at the front of the fashion world while still producing wearable clothing. He was also claimed to be the man who rescued the Dior label. His eveningwear was his greatest strength, his clothes had an understated style, which allowed the luxury of the fabrics to shine threw them. Bohans designs were very accepted by the more prominent socialites. Actress Elizabeth Taylor ordered twelve dresses from Dior’s spring/summer collection 1961 featuring the “slim look”. Bohans assistant Philippe Guibourge launches the first French ready to wear collection “Miss Dior” in 1967. Dior launched its coordinated Knitwear line in 1968. Management of the fashion furs department was taken control of by Frederic Castet. Marc Bohan also opened the baby Dior boutique in 1967 on avenue Montaigne and launched the Dior Homme (men’s ware) clothing line in 1970. Dior created its ready to wear fur collection, which would be created in France in 1973. Dior’s first watch named “Black Moon” was released in 1975 in collaboration with Benedom.
In 1984 Bernard Arnault became the owner of Dior at the age of 35 he took the company under the LVMH group, Arnault changed Dior for the better giving them financial backing and access to other luxury goods.
Marc Bohan was replaced by Gianfranco Ferre in 1989 as head director and the head of the Haute couture, Haute Fourrure and ready to wear collections. Many people were surprised that the French house of Dior had chosen an Italian to continue the company’s fashion areas. His approach to the House of Dior was more sophisticated and had more structural thought put into each collection. He kept very much to the original style of Dior using the same outfits from Dior’s first show “the new look suits” but gave them very slight modifications. The color palate stayed close to Dior’s using navy blue, grey’s and black; there were also many bold floral prints through out his collections. Many of his outfits were quite body hugging and very well structured, he liked to play with the structure of the original Dior look but sometimes would change the skirts by adding his own style to them. He was criticized for some of his haute couture collections, which some people classed as been out dated and said that Ferre was stuck in a time warp. His 1994 spring couture show was one of the more extravagant collections. He gave his jackets large lace puff sleeves, the dresses were given overblown bustles. The collection also had shantung taffeta skirts with layers and many pleats, this collection was quite outrageous compared to his usual minimalist styles. This collection was given the title of being outdated and not giving women what they really wanted because the clothes were to stuck in the past. His stay at Dior was a short one after being announced that he would leave the company in 1997 after his spring/summer collection.
Bernard Arnault had noticed John Galliano’s progression in the fashion world and liked what he was doing at the time. A few of John’s collections had similar elements of Dior which possibly grabbed Arnault’s attention. First of all Galliano was given the title of creative director of Givenchy and he became the first British designer to head a French couture house. After a year at Givenchy it was realized that his style would be more suited for Dior and was appointed creative director of the company after Ferre’s departure from the company. Galliano had high expectations from the LVMH group with it being Dior’s 50th anniversary on which john would begin working. John Galliano gave Dior a more radical and modern approach. His first few collections were in his own style but brought it threw to represent Dior’s original style. His collection for the spring/summer 1998 haute couture pretty much made his carrier. It was presented on the grand entrance to the Paris opera house. Each garment was beautifully created and thought about incredibly well. Galliano has stuck very close to Dior’s own style but brought the house into the modern age and created a completely different look every season. One of John’s quotes was that “Dior is home to the new look not once, but every season”. Some of his early work for the house was classed as being quite outrageous but despite looking incredibley over the top he still did the collections to be suited to original Dior styles. His couture for spring 2003 was most definitely his most bizarre collection, it was based on Japanese comic art, origami and other inspirations he had found on his trip to China and Japan. His models came out onto the catwalk in outfits, which were never short of fabric, each garment was exaggerated giving them bigger skirts, jackets and hats that were by milliner Stephen Jones. The outfits were done in brightly colored fabrics which totally overpowered the models which had geisha like face paints which gave them an almost clown like effect. Galliano was never one to disappoint each show was more fantastic than the last and showed even more of his creativity. He has taken inspiration from a variety of things whether it has been from Christian Dior’s personal life to more bizarre things like ancient Egyptians and the spirit of dance he always gives out something incredible. Many of his collections are very elegant like original Dior there are often jackets and skirts similar to the “new look” he also gives out varieties of imaginative and well constructed gowns and evening wear. His haute couture collections are the most anticipated during the Paris couture weeks because you never know what to expect from him. Galliano always takes into consideration of what clients want to see and buy. He also knows exactly how to make a women look good and how to style them. All of his outfits are made using the most luxurious fabrics available and the best accessories on offer, which stays very close to what Christian Dior would of done if still alive today. John Galliano without doubt has brought Dior into a more modern and wearable House than when he started over 10 years ago. Galliano often links his own house collections into what he is doing with Dior, he also uses his Haute couture shows as the starting point for his following ready to wear show in the next season. Unfortunately John Galliano was recently fired from the house due to a racist insult that was directed at a couple outside a bar in Paris. Dior found this statement unacceptable and decided it best for there house that Galliano would be removed of his input into the house.
I think that Dior has had its fair share of up’s and downs through its history but each designer has given there own versions of Christian Dior’s original look from 1947, and although each designer has given the house a new style the House of Dior is still as good and popular as it was nearly 70 years ago.
Gabrielle Coco Chanel began her career in fashion as a seamstress at the Roman Catholic monastery orphanage for six years after her mother died and her father left the family. At the age of 18 she had left the monastery and moved to the town of Moulins where she became a cabaret, unfortunately she did not succeed in the singing business. She was given the name coco as part of her act at the coffee shops, this name would later be used as her entitlement. Although her singing career did not take of, she had met a young textile heir named Etienne Balsan who she became mistress to. Balsan gifted her with diamonds, pearls and luxury clothes. Whilst with Balsan, Chanel took up hat making as a hobby during her spare time. She left Balsan and began an affair with his close friend Captain Arthur Edward Capel in 1909. Capel was the one who financed Chanel’s stores and created his own clothing style, which included a jersey blazer which Chanel would use for the basis of her look. Their affair lasted for nine years and Capel married in 1918 but stayed in close touch with Chanel, unfortunately Capel was killed in a car accident in 1919, which was the most devastating event in her life. Chanel became a licensed hat designer and opened a boutique at 21 Rue Cambon, Paris, which she named Chanel Modes. In 1913 she opened a boutique in Deauville where she launched her first luxe casual clothing line that were suitable for sports and leisure. It wasn’t until 1915 that she became a full time fashion designer after opening her next boutique in Biarritz.
Chanel’s early clothes were often casual, loose fitting and normally made out of jersey. In 1919 Chanel was registered as a couturiere and set up her couture house at 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. In 1925 Chanel was introduced to Vera Bate Lombardi who was the daughter of the Marques of Cambridge. Lombardi became Chanel’s muse and was the inspiration for Chanel’s English look, she was also Chanel’s contact to higher society people. In 1939 Chanel closed all of her fashion stores due to the start of World War 2 this was said to be because she thought that he war was no time for fashion. During the war she was rumored to have had affairs with a number of Nazi officers and was also said to of been a spy for the Nazi. When she reopened her shop and showed her first collection the French were not interested in it due to her affairs with the Nazi infiltration.
Chanel’s clothes were normally relaxed casual wear and most outfits included a short skirt, this was much different to the corset style of previous decades, she named this the “little boys” look. Chanel herself dressed in mannish clothes, which was the comfortable fashion at the time and what most women found wearable. Her signature cardigan jacket was introduced in 1925 and her little black dress in 1926 both were very successful hits with her clients. The famous Chanel tweed suits were brought into her collection starting from 1954 after she began haute couture collections. She also introduced pea jackets and bell-bottom pants for the women cliental. Most of Chanel’s clothes were considered to be casual elegance. Many of her collections were inspired by men’s clothing and often consisted of flannel blazers, short linen skirts, sailor tops, long jersey sweaters and skirt-jackets. Her boutique at 31 Rue Cambon was the first to preview her simple day dresses, coat ensembles and black dresses done in lace or jet-embroidered tulles. Many of her outfits would be accessorized with pearls, feathers and stunning necklaces. Chanel’s evening dresses were very feminine and elongated. After the re-opening of her stores, after world war two she found that the Paris fashion scene was all focused onto Dior’s “new look” and that she would have strong competition in winning back her clients. She would have to give her best outputs in couture, prêt and porter, jewelry and fragrance, she turned back to Pierre Wertheimer for advice and financial backing. In return Pierre negotiated for him self to have all rights of products bearing the name of Chanel, There collaboration worked out well for the company and her house once again became the most prestigious in the fashion world. From 1966-69 she designed uniforms for one of the worlds most luxurious airline “Olympic airways”. Coco Chanel continued to design and work up to her death on the 10th January 1971. After her death the company was handed over to Gaston Berthelot, Ramon Esparza, Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazabon and Phillippe Guibourge. These five people were assistant designers for Chanel and were given rights to continue to design for the company they were in charge of designing, both couture and prêt and porter collections as well as accessories. Jacques Wertheimer bought the entire House of Chanel, although he was not very interested in the company itself, by 1974 Jacques had give the company to his son Alain Wertheimer.
From 1981 to the present day the Chanel collections have been designed by German designer, Karl Lagerfeld. When Lagerfeld became chief designer of the company he changed Chanel’s look by giving them shorter cuts and eye capturing designs. Karl Lagerfeld has kept very close to Chanel’s style throughout his time with the house. He continues to create elegant, smart outfits and gives them the same cuts and accessories that coco had given them in the past. As the fashion world modernized so did Karl’s designs for the company. Lagerfeld’s designs have kept the femininity that Chanel herself had wanted to bring into her house. Each piece is perfectly suited for women of today, many of his pieces have a sophistication about them. All the collections have the same tailored suit that Chanel made famous, and many collections have the little black dress, which became a fashion must have for all women.
The final outcome of these house in my own opinion would be that Dior has had a better run with its house threw its individual designers which have brought their own unique styles into the house. These styles have given the house more excitement and edginess to each of their collections through out the years especially with Galliano as he has a strong imagination and made each show more exciting than the last. In comparison Chanel has kept its original image since the house opened and although the clothes are very beautiful there is nothing very exciting or different about them unlike Dior.
http://www.chanel.com/en_GB/
http://www.dior.com/home/en_gb/
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