Has dior lost its authenticity?

Dior was a small exclusive brand that started in 1947. The brand has become one of the most known luxury brands, with around a $14 billion net worth (2022), cementing its place in history.

The brand has an iconic history. Even if you dislike it, you can't avoid it. The real question is, has Dior lost its authenticity? Or has it just been diluted by market trends.

Christian Dior

Christian Dior, a man almost every fashion addict knows, had a strong passion for art and architecture since his childhood.

After the death of his mother and brother, he went to the countryside and would often draw sketches of dresses to stay positive.  That’s where he found he had a passion for sketching women's clothing.

He eventually started working with newspapers and designers and used to sell his designs and sketches. This passion became a serious commitment when he founded the house of dior in 1946.  

His first collection was in spring-summer of 1947 and was called NEW LOOK or carolle line. The name reflected the post war time fashions of the era, women weren't wearing clothes for fashion purposes anymore, they were forced into drab working fashions in the push for women in the workplace. The collection brought a fresh, almost refreshing perspective on fashion, highlighting simplicity as something to be valued.

His collections mainly focused on feminine energy. The fashions were about elegance; sophisticated timeless fashion that women still love. According to Dior himself, his collections mainly reflected his mother's wardrobe. He designed around 22 collections before he passed away from a heart attack in 1957.

Yves Saint Laurent 

The owner of YSL  used to work at Dior closely with Christian Dior himself. Laurent was very close with Dior, he was the one who recognised Saint Laurent’s talents  for design.He was incredibly passionate, as well as a dedicated, hard worker. 

After the death of Christian Dior, Laurent became the Successor and artistic director of haute couture Dior at the age of 21. While others were still mourning for the death of Christian Dior, he was busy creating a collection that needed to be presented at spring-Summer 1958, the deadline was January 30. He created six hundred sketches over 15 days, proving his talents as an amazing designer.

The first collection was called ‘trapeze’. Be kept the same timeless fashion that Dior alive with his collections, depicting elegance with just the right amount of modernity, keeping the old vibe alive just with a twist of his own magic. 

Unfortunately he received a lot of hate for his last collection, which was criticised heavily as too modern. He was called provocative because he introduced leather styles with vibrant colours to the audience. 

In 1960, Laurent went to fulfill military duty and sadly fell into a deep depression afterwards. He was fired from Dior and then decided to start his own haute couture with another co-founder Pierre Bergé.

Marc Bohan

Right after Yves Saint Laurent was fired, Marc bohan became the Creative Director of Dior. He worked with the brand for 30 years, keeping the same feminine, whimsical fashion with trending styles woven in. His talent for mixing and matching different cultural elements into his designs was widely praised by high profile wealthy women. In an interview, he stated that he didn't create his collections for the sake of views and publicity, but rather for his female clients.

At this point in time, the new owner of Dior, Bernard Arnault, decided that Dior needed someone new. He fired Marc in a highly controversial decision, paving the way for a new Creative Director.

Gianfranco Ferré 

Gianfranco Ferré was hired right after the firing of Marc bohan in 1989. He brought fresh extravagant designs with him, and treated his collections as a style of architecture. He was already a well known designer in Italy, bringing those who were already fans of him to a new market.

His designs were even sold at auctions. Ferré’s time at Dior was short, but during the  period of 1989-1996, he created over fifteen haute couture collections. 

John Galliano

John Galliano joined Dior in 1997 and worked there until 2011.  All his collections were highly debated and loved among fashion enthusiasts, bringing a new and theatrical twist to Christian Dior’s original work.

While his works were beautiful, Galliano has left a legacy behind that cannot be supported. His racism and anti-semitism reflect prejudice and disgusting behaviours that have exposed many problems within the fashion industry. His public outbursts and disrespectful collections such as ‘Haute Homeless’ highlight the problem in the industry of prioritising artistic talent over moral accountability.

Maria Grazia Chiuri

The hiring of Maria Grazia Chiuri as a creative director brought about a lot of controversy. Her collections rather focused on everyday wear and large branding logos rather than the artistic, feminine couture Christian Dior founded. She was the first female director in dior history, which was an achievement in itself , and later she went viral for using her voice to spread her message with her ‘we should all be feminists’ tees. 

Her collections focused more on modernization which made many fashion enthusiasts wonder if Dior lost its authenticity. Her designs made Dior a trendy celebrity oriented brand, which 

Conclusion 

The thing is, Dior didn't lose its authenticity, it just evaluated throughout the years with different directors, designers and different creativity of individuals with long iconic history which can't be forgotten. It was rather a good business strategy to evolve with the industry and trends in order to gain more popularity and billions of revenue. After 9 years at Dior Maria Grazia Chiuri decided to resign from her creative director post now let's see if the next director is going to keep the momentum going or bring back the old spice of Christian Dior or John Galliano again. 

XOXO, The Fashion Stock Market