Christian Dior jewellery
Christian Dior jewellery
The greatest legislator of world fashion, Dior magnificent decorations dominated on the world market in the late 1940s and 50s.
Born in Normandy, France, Christian Dior (1905-1959) began his career in the mid-1930s, selling sketches of hats and dresses to Parisian couturiers. Meanwhile, it was Jean Ozenne, designer for couture houses, who introduced Dior to the fashion world and to his clientele.
So, at the age of thirty, Dior devoted himself to studying fashion drawing, referring only to what he knew and appreciated of Edward Molyneux, Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Jeanne Lanvin. Luckily, he managed to sell his first sketches of hats and then of dresses to fashionable hat makers and couture houses. In addition, he managed to sell ideas to foreign buyers. Besides, publication of his drawings in Le Figaro contributed to his first public recognition.
Unlike his contemporary designers, who decorated clothes with unobtrusive, modest products, Dior jewellery was a mandatory detail of his collection. His early works had exclusive character. Among his clients were the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Margaret, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Guinness, Eva Peron. Later works were produced under license and in much larger quantities.
Noteworthy, Henkel, Gross Kramer and other best jewelers in 1950-60-ies worked for Dior. Love of Dior to the gardens and rural landscape in France has resulted in repetitive floral motif of wild flowers, roses and lilies. Ornaments in the form of animals, fish and unicorn – true masterpieces of design art, and are very rare. Most of Dior jewellery is dated and has a label in which is guessed lily motif.
Christian Dior jewellery
The first superstar couturier, he died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-two in Bagni di Montecatini, Italy. The financier Marcel Boussac thought at the time of closing the house, but in the face of pressure from license holders, he appointed the young assistant Yves Saint Laurent as artistic director, and in this way the label survived its founder.
When Yves Saint Laurent left in 1960, Marc Bohan took his place and held it until Gianfranco Ferre took over in 1989. Their designs upheld the image of a couture distanced from the multiple challenges and manifestos of contemporary fashion. The classicism of Dior was not shaken until the arrival in 1997 of John Galliano, who revived the active media exposure established by Dior himself.
Christian Dior jewellery
Christian Dior jewellery. Mitchel Maer for Dior:
Mitchel Maer created a company in London in the late 1930s for the production of jewelry known as the “Metal-plastic”, later “Mitchel Maer.” Dior gave Maer a license to produce jewelry for Dior fashion house, and Maer made several fine jewelry pieces for him. His floral compositions and motifs, such as the unicorn brooches are very rare today.
