April 26, 2017
Paris' Les Arts Décoratifs will host a 70th anniversary Christian Dior exhibition
French atelier Christian Dior is celebrating the anniversary of its founding with the largest exhibit seen at the Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
“Christian Dior, Couturier du Rêve” will be a retrospective of its founder and its couturiers, displaying more than 300 dresses and accompanying photographs. The exhibit will run from July 5 to Jan. 7 of next year, coinciding the opening with Paris Couture Week.
“What makes the Dior exhibition exceptional is that it will be spread across the two main spaces for temporary exhibitions,” said Olivier Gabet, museums director at Les Arts Décoratifs.
Celebration
The Dior Héritage archives are providing many of the couture dresses that will be on display at the exhibit. Dresses worn by celebrities will be shared with visitors, as well as iconic photographs of individuals wearing the designs.
One of Dior's pieces
Other dresses are coming from Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent on loan.
Documents and advertising will be featured alongside the accompanying pieces. Accessories will also be featured.
Pieces from the exhibit can date all the way back to 1947.
One of Dior's pieces
Works of art will also be incorporated into the exhibit from the Louvre Museum, the Orsay Museum and the Orangerie Museum, the Palace of Versailles, the Center Pompidou, the Museum of Decorative Arts and numerous private collections.
Dior
The exhibit comes after significant news for Dior.
Luxury goods conglomerate LVMH has offered 6.5 billion euros, or $7.06 billion at current exchange rates, including debts, to Christian Dior Group to become the French fashion brand’s sole owner.
In a complex financial deal, LVMH will buy the Christian Dior Couture brand from the Christian Dior holding company to strategically simplify the conglomerate’s luxury business. Bringing Christian Dior fully under the LVMH umbrella will make the French house the second-largest brand within the group, behind Louis Vuitton (see more).
Dior also recently recounted the influence of its founding designer’s childhood home in Granville, Normandy, France in a new museum exhibition.
“Christian Dior and Granville: The Source of a Legend” opened at the Christian Dior Museum in Granville on April 8 and will be featured at the museum until Sept. 24. The exhibition is part of the brand’s ongoing 70th anniversary celebrations (see more).
“Rarely has there been a fashion exhibition of this kind," Mr. Gabet said. "It will go down in history."
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