What fabrics did Christian Dior use?

The fabrics Christian Dior used included cotton, wool and silk. And, in the late 1940s, in an era of rationing materials and wartime austerity, the legendary couturier’s New Look collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in.

Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection, christened “The New Look” by the fashion press in 1947 owing to its novelty, is characterized by soft, rounded shoulders; a prominent bust; waspish waistlines; and long, voluminous skirts. His return to a “pretty,” highly feminized style was a reaction to the miserable years of war, and this cinched-waist, ladylike ideal quickly became the predominant silhouette of the 1950s.

Dior’s skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Buyers paid to attend his official fashion shows, and his models demurely strolled through a salon in the maison, its interiors bedecked with moldings, sconces and gilt-edged mirrors.

Dior introduced lavish hourglass ball gowns and evening dresses while his Bar Suit comprised an ivory silk-shantung jacket with soft shoulders, nipped waist and padded hips over a voluminous black wool skirt. Rather than rationing, Dior’s ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred.

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