from paris
to NEW YORK

For Christian Dior, New York City – in all its bustling effervescence – always exerted a powerful attraction. On the occasion of the Dior Fall 2024 show, that multicultural world capital once again became a dream stopover. Here, Dior Magazine looks back on a passionate story that only continues to grow.

Dior Heritage collection, Paris © Christian Dior

The story begins in the heart of Paris, on 12 February 1947, in the salons at 30 Avenue Montaigne, where Christian Dior unveiled his very first collection. The creations presented carried the essence of revolutionary femininity, for example in the New York ensemble whose clean lines seemed to concentrate the energy of the city that never sleeps.

After the show, Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, enthralled by its manifesto-like modernity, exclaimed: “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian! Your dresses are wonderful – they have such a new look!”, thus consecrating the Dior silhouette under the name New Look in the eyes of the world, as the symbol of a new vision of women, a new vitality.

On the other side of the Atlantic, success was immediate. On 7 September 1947, just a few months after his triumph, Christian Dior was awarded the Neiman Marcus Prize for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. The couturier, who had never before travelled overseas, embarked on the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner for New York, then continued on to Dallas before pursuing his enchanting adventure in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and Boston, which proved to be sources of endless inspiration. His Texas, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Arizona and Mystère de New York ensembles were an invitation to escape.

But while Christian Dior was captivated by America’s splendours, it was with New York – “one of the great capitals of the world”, as he put it – that he forged the most singular bonds. In 1947, when he discovered the famous Manhattan skyline, he was entranced by its effervescence, grandeur, architecture and urbane glamour. In his memoirs, he wrote: “To all my questions, it was the city of New York itself which gave the best answer – when it appeared on the horizon at dawn on the fifth day, radiant in the glory of its Indian summer… Carried away by my enthusiasm, I completely forgot the ancient continent of my birth… My two days in New York were spent in a continuous state of wonder.” It was here, in the heart of that exhilarating and deeply vibrant megalopolis, that he chose to settle, in order to unfurl the excellence of Parisian couture, now adapted to the desires and style of cosmopolitan American women. In October 1948, these precious affinities were crystallized by the launch of the Christian Dior New York subsidiary, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57^th Street.

Twice a year, a select audience – mainly professionals – attended the unveiling of exclusive collections. The House’s fragrances and makeup also travelled: Diorama perfume premiered in the United States one year before it became available in France. Every year, the couturier would cross the ocean to his beloved city, which he came to know perfectly: “New York became almost as familiar to me as Paris,” he said. In 1957, the legendary Time magazine dedicated the coveted cover of its March issue to Dior, sealing this immeasurable passion for posterity.

The year 1971 would mark a milestone with the inauguration at Saks Fifth Avenue of the very first Dior boutique in the United States, featuring over sixty ready-to-wear and haute couture ensembles. In 2023, for the holiday season, the House imagined Dior’s Carousel of Dreams at Saks, a spectacular show illuminating the façade and all the display windows of the iconic Fifth Avenue building. A project of unparalleled scale, and a masterful, striking ode to the elemental ties between Dior and the American luxury retailer.

From 1947 to today, a series of must-see events have continued to inform this ardent complicity with the Big Apple. In 1996, the House celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a exhibition dedicated to Christian Dior’s work at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The opening was preceded by a sumptuous gala benefit dinner and a ball, with Lady Diana as guest of honour. The Princess of Wales wore a Dior haute couture gown in midnight-blue satin edged with black lace. In 2006 and again in 2008, Dior Cruise collections were presented in New York.

From 2012 to 2022, Dior was the main sponsor of the Guggenheim International Gala, a long-standing collaboration that highlighted Christian Dior’s admiration for artists and his infinite fascination for a city he loved with all his heart. In 2014, Raf Simons travelled to Brooklyn to reveal the Dior Cruise 2015 collection. Perpetuating the House’s long-established ties to the arts, for the Dior Summer 2019 show Kim Jones invited the New York-based artist KAWS to design the show’s set, resulting in a colossal statue in the image of his emblematic figurine, BFF.

Since 2019, Maria Grazia Chiuri has been engaged in creative dialogues with Judy Chicago, a pioneer in American feminist art, whose monumental work The Dinner Party, conceived in the 1970s, is a highlight of New York’s Brooklyn Museum. Dior’s unique odyssey continued at the same institution in 2021, with the exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. In 2023, Dior became the privileged partner of the Brooklyn Artists Ball, an annual gala held at the Brooklyn Museum to raise funds for the museum’s education and outreach programs. On that occasion, Dior extended its collaboration with the artist Mickalene Thomas – an association that began with the Dior Cruise 2020 line – by entrusting her with the scenography for the event.

Today, this marvellous story opens a new chapter. For the Fall 2024 collection, Dior paid an unprecedented tribute to the city where anything is possible by choosing the Brooklyn Museum as its dreamed destination. A highly symbolic alliance between Paris and New York^*, two world fashion capitals, through the prism of cross-culturalism and freedom.

^*For Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior loyalist Marlene Dietrich embodied the formidable “Paris-New York” cultural duality.

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