Christian Dior was born in 1905 in Granville, a seaside town on the coast of Normandy, France. He was one of the five children of a wealthy fertilizer manufacturer. He moved to Paris with his family at the age of five. His parents wanted him to become a diplomat but he was artistically inclined. He started selling his sketches on the streets to make pocket money during his school times and upon leaving school, he managed a small art gallery bought by his father.
Dior closed the art gallery following the Great Depression after the collapse of his father’s Business and the subsequent death of his mother and brother. In 1938, Dior was hired by Robert Piguet who was a designer. He was then called up to serve in the military in the south of France in 1940 and returned to Paris in 1941 to work for Lucien Lelong in a bigger design house. He opened his own house in 1946, supported by Marcel Boussac, a textile manufacturer.
Christian Dior’s reputation as a key couturier in the 20th century began in 1947 when he launched his first collection where he introduced “The New Look,” which featured rounded shoulders, very full skirt, and a cinched waist. This collection celebrated opulence and ultra-femininity in women’s fashion. By 1948, Dior had already arranged numerous lucrative licensing deals for stockings, fur, and perfumes which made him a household name and generated significant revenue.
He expanded operations to New York on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th street in 1948 where he established a Luxury ready-to-wear house. This establishment was the first of its kind and in that same year, he also launched the Dior Parfums, where Miss Dior was the first fragrance launched, and Diorama launched the following year. Christian Dior suffered a violent heart attack in 1957 and left the house in disarray. Although the House of Dior continues to be a thriving business to date, Christian Dior left the world devoid of a compelling dictator of style
