Christian Dior Black Silk Cloque and Lace Cocktail Dress
View Similar Items
Christian Dior Black Silk Cloque and Lace Cocktail Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Style:1960 (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU46250954
Christian Dior
When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His 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. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous evening dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
- Jean Louis Sherrer Lacquered Lace Cocktail DressBy Jean-Louis ScherrerLocated in New York, NYLovely J.L Scherrer cocktail dress in black lacquered lace over black velvet boned bustier dress. Larged ruffled lace collar and cuffs. Covered lace buttons down the back provide ent...Category
1980s French Cocktail Dresses
- Deco Beaded Dot Dance DressLocated in New York, NYFrench art deco dress of black beaded dots which graduate from small to large across bodice and skirt on silk chiffon base. Beautiful quality wor...Category
1930s French Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Givenchy Matte Jersey Gold Soutache GownBy GivenchyLocated in New York, NYCool Givenchy Matte Jersey Gold Soutache Gown from the 1970's with pointed handkerchief scarf sleeves and gold braid forming round epaulettes. Slim tubular cut with dramatic sleeves...Category
1970s French Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Lanvin Haute Couture Silk Taffeta HalterBy Lanvin ParisLocated in New York, NYLanvin Haute Couture Silk Taffeta Halter. Simple and flattering halter neckline is held by a wide band of black silk velvet trimmed with bright gr...Category
1980s French Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Art Deco French Couture 1920's Flapper DressLocated in New York, NYUnusual 1920s French Art Deco flapper evening dress of Couture Quality. Luminiscent black laquered silk organza-chiffon, hand applied with paillette embroidery of abstract poppy...Category
Early 20th Century Evening Gowns
- Glamorous Wavy Lace Ruffle DressLocated in New York, NYStriking cocktail dress of silk marquisette and lace. Undulating graduated panels of wavy lace circle the full skirt of the dress which is backed in a stiff crinoline. The bodice is ...Category
1950s American Cocktail Dresses
- 1990s Louis Feraud Black Cerimony Floral Velvet Vintage Long DressBy Louis FeraudLocated in Brindisi, BtLouis Feraud vintage women dress. Black color, 100% polyester. Long model, floral applications in velvet, adjustable waist belt, collar with flou...Category
1990s German Evening Dresses
$1,147 Sale Price20% Off - Michael Kors Collection Black Cap Sleeve Jersey Little Black Dress Size 8 LBDBy Michael KorsLocated in San Diego, CABeautiful, and extremely flattering Michael Kors Collection signature jersey dress! Flattering bust, with cute cap sleeves. Attached tie belt can be tied in the front or back. Signat...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Cocktail Dresses
$440 Sale Price20% Off - Gianni Versace F/W 1993 Runway Couture Sheer Knit Mesh Lace Evening Dress GownBy Gianni Versace CoutureLocated in Naples, FLGianni Versace F/W 1993 Runway Couture Sheer Knit Mesh Lace Bustier Black Evening Dress Gown IT 44 Excellent Condition!Category
1990s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- F/2015 look # 17 VERSUS VERSACE + Anthony Vaccarello ASYMMETRIC BLACK DRESS 38By VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVERSACE VERSUS + Anthony Vaccarello Actual PR-sample Fall 2015 look # 17 Little black dress For a seductive LBD that packs a punch, turn to Versus Versace. This dress has ...Category
2010s Italian Cocktail Dresses
$1,382 Sale Price22% Off - The little black dress by Chanel black and white silk Sculpted figureLocated in Bilbao, ESAbsence of vulgarity was central to Chanel’s definition of luxury, a view formed during her impoverished early life. Born in 1883 in Saumur, France, as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, she was just 12 years old when her mother died and her itinerant father put her in a home for orphaned girls run by a local convent. She learned to sew and, upon moving to Moulins six years later, became a seamstress. She also sang in nightclubs, earning the sobriquet “Coco,” an allusion to a popular song of the time. Beautiful, one of a kind vintage silk dress and jacket for everyday ware as a coktail dress...Category
1990s Aesthetic Evening Dresses
$2,759 Sale Price32% Off - Vintage Linz Line Black Cocktail /Dinner DressLocated in London, GBA chic vintage cocktail/ dinner dress by Linz Line. The dress has a scalloped off the shoulder neckline and is fully lined. There is gatherin...Category
1950s Unknown Evening Dresses and Gowns
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Too Soon for the Return of ’90s Fashion? As If
There's a renewed appreciation for the era's aesthetic, perhaps most notably among millennials seeking authentic, easy style.
14 Iconic Luxury Handbags and the Stories behind Them
When the name of a bag is as well-known as its brand, you know it's a classic.