“Christian Dior‘s Designer of Dreams” retrospective is making its next stop at the Brooklyn Museum where the show will be displayed on the 20,000 square-foot Beaux Art Court located on the museum’s third floor. Premiered in Paris in 2017, the exhibition will examine the 70-year history of the French fashion house.
Born in Granville, France, Christian Dior founded his eponymous label in 1946. Known for his beautifully-shaped voluminous garments, his first collection created a stir and became known as the “New Look,” a description credited to Harper’s Bazaar‘s editor-in-chief, Carmel Snow. In 1955, Dior brought on 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent as a assistant, who would go on to lead the label’s creative director when Dior died unexpectedly at age 52.
Commenting on the event, Brooklyn Museum senior curator of fashion and material culture Matthew Yokobosky stated, “The Brooklyn Museum has a long record of recognizing important contributions in the history of fashion design, from “The Story of Silk” (1934) to the groundbreaking “Of Men Only” (1976) to the recent “Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion” (2019) and now “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams.” Each exemplifies the power of fashion to influence and shift visual culture at large.
“Today, the work of [Dior designer] Maria Grazia Chiuri has reshaped the Dior dream for a new generation, with a worldview that brings with it inclusivity and respect as key philosophical directives. We couldn’t be more excited to present these innovative, beguiling and technically outstanding designs to our audiences.”
Controlled and chaired by Bernard Arnault, Dior menswear currently is led by Kim Jones, while’s women’s is directed by Chiuri who was appointed in 2016.
The Christian Dior retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum will open on September 10, 2021 and will run through February 20, 2022.
Check out the official poster for the show below.
