Miss Dior

Miss Dior is a wartime story of freedom and fascism, beauty and betrayal and 'a gripping story' (Antonia Fraser). 'Exceptional . . . Miss Dior is so much more than a biography. It's about how necessity can drive people to either terrible deeds or acts of great courage, and how beauty can grow from the worst kinds of horror.'DAILY TELEGRAPHMiss Dior explores the relationship between the visionary designer Christian Dior and his beloved younger sister Catherine, who inspired his most famous perfume and shaped his vision of femininity. Justine Picardie's journey takes her to wartime Paris, where Christian honed his couture skills while Catherine dedicated herself to the French Resistance and the battle against the Nazis, until she was captured by the Gestapo and deported to the German concentration camp of Ravensbrück.Tracing the wartime paths of the Dior siblings leads Picardie deep into other hidden histories, and different forms of resistance and sisterhood. She discovers what it means to believe in beauty and hope, despite our knowledge of darkness and despair, and reveals the timeless solace of the natural world in the aftermath of devastation and destruction. 'Extraordinary . . . Picardie uses her investigative reporting skills . . . the result is Netflix-worthy and the pace page-turning . . . Catherine's story shines - the quiet Dior who preferred flowers to fashion, the unsung heroine who survived the abuse of the Third Reich to help liberate France.'SUNDAY TIMES

Using words and beautiful archival photos, British Vogue documents the illustrious career of one of the twentieth century’s greatest fashion designers. In 1947, Christian Dior stunned the fashion world with his first collection, the “New Look,” which transformed the way women dressed, and he continued to send shock waves with his later shows, significantly altering the fashion landscape. Vogue on Christian Dior tells the story of Dior’s search for the perfect line and how his unique style and vision of women’s ideal silhouette developed. One of the most famous designers of the 20th century, his name still fronts one of the most successful haute couture fashion houses. Vogue on Christian Dior is a volume from the series created by the editors of British Vogue. It features 20,000 words of original biography and history and is studded with 80 color and black-and-white images from their unique archive of photos taken by the leading photographers of the day, including Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.

In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the house of Dior comes the first volume in a series of books devoted to each designer of the couture house. Dior by Christian Dior is the ultimate compendium of the most iconic designs conceived by Christian Dior. Featuring a wealth of stunning photographs by Laziz Hamani and lovingly detailed text by Musee Galliera director Olivier Saillard, this monumental volume encompasses a curated selection of Christian Dior's most important haute couture creations.

Hailed as 'the most influential female designer of the twentieth century', Coco Chanel pioneered classic easy-to-wear fashion for the modern woman. She arrived on the fashion scene when feathers, lace and ostentatious beads were favourites, and proceeded to re-invent couture using new materials, like jersey, for outfits that were suitable for everyday wear yet still elegant. With original illustrations and images from celebrated photographers, such as Cecil Beaton, Bronwyn Cosgrave traces the story of Coco Chanel's iconic designs and glamorous, racy life. In 1921 Coco opened her Chanel boutique in Paris - still a destination store today - and launched her first perfume, Chanel No.5. Perhaps her most important contribution to the fashion world was the simple, much-imitated 'little black dress' which made its debut in 1926. Other landmark creations include the Chanel suit and the quilted handbag. A testament to her lasting influence, these legendary designs remain as popular today as when they first appeared. Vogue, the international fashion bible, has charted the careers of designers through the decades. Its unique archive of photographs, taken by the leading photographers of the day from Cecil Beaton to Mario Testino, and original illustrations, together with its stable of highly respected fashion writers, make Vogue the most authoritative and prestigious source of reference on fashion. With a circulation of over 160,000 and a readership of over 1,400,000, no brand is better positioned to present a library on the great fashion designers of the modern age.

The great hats of Dior, as chosen by Stephen Jones, one of the most revered milliners of our times. Christian Dior himself wrote in his Little Dictionary of Fashion: "A hat is essential to any outfit. It completes it. In a way, a hat is the best way to express your personality." Published on the occasion of the 2020 exhibition at the Musée Christian Dior in Granville, France, and authored by renowned milliner Stephen Jones, this volume celebrates more than seventy years of exquisite hats. Opening with a focus on hats designed by Christian Dior himself, the book explores the house's headdresses over the years--from the first millinery of the New Look to Yves Saint Laurent's Venetian masks, the toques of Marc Bohan, dramatic boaters by Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano's extravagant confections, the graphic neck bow by Raf Simons, and romantic designs by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Jones's insightful texts are accompanied by contributions from leading experts and enlivened by drawings and photographs from Dior's archives; shots by famed photographers, such as Richard Avedon, Sir Cecil Beaton, and Craig McDean; and exclusive new images by Sølve Sundsbø.

An incredible collection of Yves Saint Laurent's designs, beautifully captured by the leading fashion photographers of the 20th century Yves Saint Laurent: Icons of Fashion Design & Photography is a gorgeous homage to the uncrowned king of haute couture. Originally published in 1988, the book traces the success of Saint Laurent's haute couture and ready-to-wear designs from 1962 to 1988 through the lens of the world's leading fashion photographers, including Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, William Klein, and more. Inside, 135 photographs document Saint Laurent's groundbreaking designs worn by the most beautiful women of the '60s, '70s, and '80s: Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Mounia, and Veruschka. Saint Laurent was equipped with an infallible instinct for reading the aesthetic signs of the times, and this enabled him to have a profound effect on fashion. With an introduction by Marguerite Duras, this classic volume documents Saint Laurent's ever-evolving artistry and the combined efforts of the world's most talented fashion photographers, and is as beautiful and rewarding as one of Saint Laurent's creations.

"This volume showcases the perfumes of Christian Dior against the backdrop of his life--the Belle Epoque of his youth, the "Roaring Twenties" of his young adulthood and the postwar period of his success as a fashion designer and perfumer. From 1946, before his first collection had even been debuted, Dior was interested in perfume, launching the iconic Miss Dior fragrance (along with the perfumer Paul Vacher) in 1947, and later gaining great success with fragrances such as Diorissimo, Eau Sauvage, Poison and J'Adore." -- From Amazon.

"Christian Dior caused a worldwide sensation in 1947, in a Paris still groping to recover from the devastation of wartime occupation. Reintroducing the flowing, ankle-length skirt, Dior gave women back their long-lost sense of freedom, femininity, and joie de vivre. Diorʼs collection with its pinched waste and generous folds of fabric was dubbed the ʻNew Lookʼ by the press, and he was crowned ʻThe King of Fashionʼ. He immediately re-established Paris as the centre of the fashion world and for the next thirty years the House of Dior played host to aristocracy, stars of stage and film, and glitterati from around the world. The Duchess of Windsor, Olivia de Havilland, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Ingrid Bergman were just a few of the famous names that graced its corridors. Diorʼs daily inspiration emanated from the world of the intellectual and artistic elite, in which he moved with such people as Erik Satie, Francis Poulenc, Henry Suguet, Jean Cocteau and Raoul Dufy. With elegance, precision, and impeccable research, Marie-France Pochna recreates this one-of-a-kind world of glamour and situates Diorʼs fairy-tale career in the rich tapestry of Paris cultural life."--Pubisher description.