Le Mythe Dior
This week for my special topics in Fashion History in learning of post World War Two and it’s affects on fashion, I chose to look further into Diors spin on the Theatre De La Mode during the Pandemic. During this time they released two films via digital platforms from which everyone could have access to for both their Autumn Winter and Spring Summer Collection. If I didn’t know the history of the Threatre De La Mode I never would have understood how beautiful the symbolism was behind these two films.
But after learning more of how after the Nazi occupation the couture era in France was under threat by its own pandemic of poverty in the taste of life itself, it found a way to alter it’s means of succession instead of letting it’s fire be put out. Dior when releasing these films to showcase their two collections during the pandemic was their way of playing on history, and showing how time has aged beautifully well.
Alexander Fury spoke in an interview of how Christian Dior’s New Look exploded into a post-war society in 1947 as an antidote to the chokehold of rationing, fabric shortages. In 1947 Dior made women dream again.
The woman who was depicted with a conch encapsulating her was measured so that the life size dress could be made to her making. That part wasn't fantasized like the rest of the story. The order was returned to the large scale fashion house in which it was made. And there is where the fantasy of it all goes from myth to history.
Pandemic wise, the clothing was made at home and traveled back and forth between the team at Dior where revisions were made over a computer screen. Maria Grazia Chiuri who is the current artistic director at dior for womenswear spoke of these physical restrictions and how creativity always peaks within times of crisis. I can’t help but laugh at reading Godrey Deeny’s take on the film in which he says that “Even someone who couldn’t care a hoot about fashion could only admire this beautiful film.” And he’s right.
The way that they carry the house of Dior from fantastical creature to creature is in a way symbolic of how the Theatre de la mode traveled all across Europe, bringing the magic of Paris to places that were as well taken in drought by the war. I am awestruck how during the time of quarantine, Dior looked to their history and found a new way to tell the story of how fashion will be altered, but never quite destroyed. “After the dark days of the lock-down felt like a generous gift by Dior to the world. A timely reminder of the importance of fantasy in all our lives,” said Deeny.
And just how Theatre De La Mode was sent around the world, so was Le Mythe Dior. To quote Chiuri directly on the survival of couture in darker times the need for the who were, “to promote craftsmanship. And also the idea that couture houses were alive.”
And as the gorgeous female statue in Le Mythe Dior comes to life to touch her stone cold hands on the glorious silk fabric of a dress showcased to her on a half scale figurine, she too comes to life with the promise of the future and the strength of fortitude the now.
