Marc Bohan

AN HOMAGE: MARC BOHAN

A virtuoso visionary, Marc Bohan was a unique designer who marked the history of fashion and haute couture, as well as that of our House, where he served as Creative Director for almost three decades.

“What i create here is not just a garment. It’s a style, a way of being, of living –
it’s an expression. Because to dress is to express oneself.”

– Marc Bohan

Fascinated by the inventiveness of Monsieur Dior – an aesthete and art enthusiast like himself – Marc Bohan arrived at the House in 1958, when he was hired to oversee its subsidiary in London before returning to Paris to take over from Yves Saint Laurent as Dior’s head designer in September 1960. Under him, the founding couturier’s creative essence was reborn in perfection of line and reinterpreted, streamlined cuts such as the agenda-setting Slim Look introduced for spring-summer 1961. That allure, reflecting the spirit of the times, had all the ingredients for success: a colourful composition, assertive shapes, a liberated, nonconformist style, all symbols of a new femininity, and an ultra-modernity that would become a timeless signature. It was a triumph, a veritable revolution that the press compared to the iconic New Look of 1947. For almost thirty years, Marc Bohan infused Dior elegance with his contemporary point of view, his absolute understanding of the “modern air”, in terms of both heritage and perpetual reinvention, always expressed with a desire to renew the House’s aesthetic universe and its – inevitably, eternally – Parisian distinctiveness.

A pioneering designer, he launched Christian Dior Monsieur and, in 1967, transformed fashion with the Miss Dior ready-to-wear line; he also originated the emblematic Dior Oblique motif, an instantly recognizable, ultra-desirable Dior code to this day.

At the same time, following in the founder’s footsteps in the heart of the “kingdom of dreams” that is 30 Montaigne, he dressed the world’s brightest stars, royalty and most demanding personalities. His uncommon imagination and avant-garde singularity never ceased to be an infinite source of inspiration for every Creative Director to succeed him at Dior. The House and the entire team at Dior Magazine are deeply saddened by his passing and wish to pay tribute to his immense and infinite talent.

The house of Dior would like to express its sincere condolences to his loved ones and salute, and celebrate, his wonderfully singular influence.

“Marc Bohan’s work at Dior is a huge source of surprise and inspiration for what we do. There is always something new to discover whilst researching his work.”

– KIM JONES

“My adolescence and youth were accompanied by creations by Marc Bohan for Dior. He was a great innovator who succeeded in infusing a charismatic House such as Dior with all the vitality of the Sixties, fully reflecting the spirit of the times. And by dreaming up, with shapes, colours and attitude, a new way of experiencing fashion and interpreting the body through clothes. When I arrived at Dior, I studied his work a lot, and he inspired many collections, including one featuring the feminist artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who was one of his great friends.”

– Maria Grazia Chiuri

“When I was sixteen, I regularly borrowed dresses designed by Marc Bohan for Dior. They were my first ballgowns, my first couture memories. His contemporary vision changed the way we wear clothes, the way we look at fashion and style.”

– Victoire de Castellane