When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion. Vintage Dior bags, shoes, evening dresses, shirts and other garments and accessories are known today for their feminine and sophisticated sensibility.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous couture dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
Christian Dior Porcelain Jewelry Box, Music Box (Autumn Leaves)
By Christian Dior
Located in New York, NY
Christian Dior "Autumn Leaves" Porcelain Music Box, with painted and gilt leaf motif with blue velvet lined interior, marked "Christian Dior / Fine...
$49Sale Price|30% Off
H 2 in W 3.75 in L 4.5 in
Nijma M Fine Jewelry Modern White Velvet Ring Roll Box
By Nijma M Fine Jewelry
Located in Toronto, CA
Whether at home, on the go, or traveling, make sure your precious rings are always safe with this white crushed velvet jewelry box pochette case with gold tassel detailing. The perfe...
$49Sale Price / item|30% Off
H 2 in W 3.75 in L 4.5 in
White Crushed Velvet Jewelry Pochette Box with Gold Tassel
By Nijma M Fine Jewelry
Located in Toronto, CA
Whether at home, on the go, or traveling, make sure your precious jewels are always safe with this white crushed velvet pochette case with gold tassel detailing. Featuring a multi-purpose insert with two sides. One side of the insert suitable for two pairs of earrings and one necklace or bracelet. The other side suitable for one ring. Insert is also completely removable from pochette box. Dimensions of pochette box: Length: 4.5" Width: 3.75" Thickness: 2" White crushed velvet Gold tassel and cord detailing Jewelry pictured (all available on 1st Dibs, please visit Nijma M Fine Jewelry storefront): - 'Blue Ice' blue topaz triple band ring in 14K yellow gold (available in multiple sizes) - 'Diamond Plaza' square hoop earrings with diamonds in 14K yellow gold - 'The High Life' blue topaz and diamond crawler...
Goyard Vendome Jewelry Watch Box Case Yellow Hard Travel Trunk Display
By Goyard
Located in Miami, FL
- Yellow exterior - Multi compartment interior - Two clasp closure Condition: The case is in overall great condition with no major imperfections Measurements: ( Approximately ...
Vintage Limoges Hand Painted Porcelain Trinket Box, Artisan Style
By Limoges 2
Located in Arnhem, NL
A vintage Limoges France handpainted rectangular porcelain trinket box. The box features multicolored floral ornaments on white and royal blue background. The box is braced with a gi...
Brass
Van Cleef & Arpels VCA Jewelry Box
By Van Cleef & Arpels
Located in New York, NY
Van Cleef & Arpels VCA bracelet jewelry box. An authentic Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet jewelry box case. The two (2) boxes included, the light green ...
Natural Malachite and Desert Rose Gemstone Owl Jewelry Box
By Michael Kanners
Located in Bal Harbour, FL
Enjoy the beauty of natural gemstones with just the right artistic touch. The all natural malachite box is made up of individual slabs which have been perfectly matched to show the ...
Malachite
$1,795
H 2.5 in W 5.5 in D 4.75 in
Antique French Metal Trinket Box with Porcelain Sistine Madonna Cherub Plaque
Located in Tustin, CA
Beautiful antique, handcrafted French bronze and brass scalloped hinged jewelry or trinket or vanity box from the 19th century features a round porcelain plaque or disc, bezel set in the lid, exquisitely hand painted with a famous image depicting one of the cherubs from the "Sistine Madonna" by Raphael Sanzio, also known as "Cherubs from the Madonna of San Sisto", which was originally painted between 1513 -1514. This is considered to be one of the most popular angel images...
Victorian Sterling Silver Heart Box Jewelry Dresser Pill Patch Box
Located in New York, NY
THIS IS A WONDERFUL ANTIQUE VICTORIAN HEART SHAPE BOX WITH A STERLING SILVER REPOUSSE ENGRAVED TOP OF EXTRAORDINARY BEAUTY WITH A CRYSTAL BOTTOM. THE SILVER JEWELRY, KEEPSAKE, DRES...
Silver, Sterling Silver
$1,000
H 1.97 in D 1.54 in Dm 3.47 in
1918 Antique British Sterling Silver Jewelry Vanity Ring Box / 126 gr
Located in SE
British Jewelry Box, round-shaped on cabriole legs, interior lined with dark blue colored textile. Lid with a mounted bone plate decorated with ornamental inlay in Silver. Made in ...
Silver
$1,695
H 0.75 in W 1.9 in L 1.9 in
Georg Jensen Art Nouveau Silver Dresser Box 79 Pill Jewelry Ring Box 1915-1932
By Georg Jensen
Located in New York, NY
THIS IS A WONDERFUL AND RARE EARLY ORIGINAL GEORG JENSEN ART NOUVEAU DRESSER PILL JEWELRY RING BOX IN STERLING SILVER WITH A FLOWER MOTIF ON THE TOP. This is an absolutely stunning rare early antique small silver dresser box...
Silver, Sterling Silver
Line Vautrin Box
By Line Vautrin
Located in New York, NY
Portman Gallery is pleased to offer a Line Vautrin compact/poudrier in bronze. At first I thought that the lack of gilt must have been some kind ...
Bronze
$3,250Sale Price|27% Off
H 1.5 in W 3.75 in L 7 in
Celeste Holm Tiffany Jewelry Box Signed from Cast of Soap Opera Loving Sterling
By Tiffany & Co.
Located in New York, NY
This is a Signed Tiffany Sterling Silver Jewelry Trinket Box Presented to actress Celeste Holm by the Cast of the Soap Opera "Loving." The box combines t...
Sterling Silver