Christian Dior - History of Christian Dior

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Christian Dior was born in the year 1905, in France on the French coastline, in a small town called Grenville. Dior lived in this town until he was about 5 years old, and then he up and moved with his family for Paris, France.

Christian Dior fell upon hard times, with the untimely death of both his mother and his brother, and he moved to the Soviet Union. He was hurting very bad financially, so an old-time friend of his gave him a place to stay and he also helped him start his career sketching dresses and hats.

Christian Dior started to sell his sketches, and some famous actresses loved them and purchased them. In 1941 when Christian Dior was out of the military he moved back to Paris -- and he joined another designer by the name of Lucien Lelong. Dior stayed with him until 1946 when he moved out on his own, and got his own salon and designed for himseld. Dior's first show was 90 outfits that were worn by six girls.

After his first collection, Christian Dior sat long and hard and tried to think what the women of Paris would want as the next big thing in their fashionable clothing. He thought that women were sick of the broad shoulders, built for men, really covered up look that was going on during this time and he mainly decided to shake things up a bit. Christian Dior thought to himself that he had to " Bring back beauty, feminine clothing, soft rounded shapes, and full flowing skirts). He wanted to make the women feel like flowers again like they felt in the 1930's, and he called this collection the COROLLE, also known as the ring of petals collection.

Women all over the world were embracing this wonderful new look of the Christian Dior Dresses. For some reason though, even with so many people loving this new look, many people were also against it. Some models that were on a photographic shoot even had things as extreme as having their clothes town off of them, and some governments throughout the world forbid the line, calling the collection outrageous and wasteful -- I wonder if they would feel the same today.

With many people loving Christian Diors styles, some when be come to USA would greet him with signs protesting his clothing line. Christian Dior didn't let the negativity of some hold him back, and every 6 months he released a new line, releasing 22 lines very swiftly.

The Master which is what Christian Dior was known by, passed on in the year of 1957, as he died of a very sudden heart attack. The fashion world as a whole was stunned in dis-belief when the new came out, and the company of Christian Dior which had over 1200 employee's was devestated. The company continued to prosper after the death of the creator, as the number two in line took charge and continued the domination in the fashion industry.

In the 1960's Christian Dior once again shocked the fashion world with its designs, which included motorcycle jackets that were made out of alligator skin, and also mink coats that were ribbed sweater sleeves.

In 1960, Mark Bohan took over the company, and he was only 34 years old. It was only a year later in 1961 when Mark Bohan released his first collection under the Christian Dior name, and that collection was called the "Slim Line", and it was a very big success.

Christian Dior continued to expand, opening up stores in cities such as New York City, Paris, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and other majojr hotspots. Christian Dior was becoming well known as high end luxurious goods. They not only expanded their area in which they sold their goods, but also their line of goods they were manufacturing.

Christian Dior soon added shoes, necklaces, earrings, perfume, cologne, pens, hats, scarves and many other accessories to their product line. Christian Dior is mostly known for their wonderful gowns and handbags, and they are also widely replicated.

You see many women who can't afford to spend 1,200 or some odd dollars on an authentic purse, they will be a replica christian dior handbag from a vendor, mostly they are made in China. These purses are made out of lesser quality materials, and are poorly made and sold for cheap. You can find them on most online auction sites and they are also very common at trade shows and flea markets.