Dior - My Inspired New Look

For todays outfit I am pulling inspiration from one of the most iconic looks in history! Of course its not an exact replica but its a more "modern" "wearable" version.... however if you gave me the original I would still wear it everywhere because in my eyes its still wearable.... but I digress. But before we get to my version of this look lets take a trip back in time to the very beginning... 

Dior - The Beginning 

Before we talk about the new look lets get to know the man tho created it. Christian Dior was born on January 21st 1905 in Normandy, France. His father was Maurice Dior and his Mother was Madeline Martin. Dior was the second born out of 5 siblings. They lived a comfortable bourgeoisie life due to a successful fertilizer company. Dior and his family moved to Paris when he was 10. As a young boy Dior was fascinated by anything elaborate, sparkling, flowery of frivolous. Later in life he would say that his greatest love were flowers and plats... that will be important for his debut collection.  However his Father wanted him to become a diplomat but Dior was artistic and wanted to be involved in art. To make money he would sell his sketches for 10 cents outside of his house. 

The making of a Legend  

In 1928 he left school and his father gave him some money to start a small art gallery with the condition that he didn't use the family name. He sold artwork by Picasso. Unfortunately due to the great depression the gallery closed 3 years later. This forces Dior to have to find another way to make a living. Dior began selling sketches of hats to newspapers and eventually landed a job with Rober Piguet in 1938, where he was given the opportunity to design 3 Piguet collections. While at Piguet, Dior worked alongside Pierre Balmain. Dior left Piguet when he was called to serve in the south of France during WWII. He returned to Paris in 1941 and worked with Lucien Lelong at a much larger design house where he and Balmain were the primary designers. On December 8th 1946 he opened his own house.

The Collection that changed fashion

His first collection launched on February 12th 1947 by the name of Corolle (The botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in english) The term new look would be coined by Carmel Snow, editor and chief of  Harpers Bazaar. Dior was quoted saying " I have created flower women". Which I find really interesting because the big skirts do look like upside down flowers. Diors designs rejected the styles of the 1920s and 1930s and was inspired by styles body shapers of the late 19th century. The bar suit was the most iconic out of the entire collection, and there are two variations, one with a notched collar and one with a shawl collar.  The one in the most famous photo (The one I have beside my photo at the beginning of the post) is notched  HOWEVER that photo is actually from 1957, the original photo is the one below on the left which was taken in 1947. So the original bar suit was a shawl collar and the notched one was created later and then used as a promotional image for the 10 year anniversary of Dior. 

Dior was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes, his designs were revolutionary at the time because there were more voluminous than the clothes seen during the war and the previous 2 decades. His looks featured round shoulders, cinched waists and a very full skirt. He accentuated the shapes by using hip padding, petticoats, bones bustier style bodices, and corsets.This amount of shape wear had not been since the turn of the century, especially since it became popular for women to not wear corsets in the 1920s.  His collection celebrated ultra femininity and opulence. However his collection did get some backlash upon its release, initially women protested because the skirts were longer and covered up their legs, at the time hemlines had gotten shorter due to rationing from the war. Some criticized the excess amount of fabric being used for a single dress or suit right after WWII and people were still struggling. But there is no denying that this collection established Dior as a high fashion brand and set the fashion trend for the next decade.

Dior offered not only a new look but a new outlook on fashion... and as they say the rest is history! 

From Corolle to Carolina 

Of course my outfit is much less opulent than the original but I am pulling inspiration not recreating the look. I put together this outfit with items I thrifted and that I already had in my closet ! As you probably noticed the colours are inverted but I still think it works!  So I am wearing this vintage cream pleated skirt, its not as full as the Dior one (Which is what makes it iconic) but when paired with the peplum style top I think it works really nicely for a more day to day look. The top is a black rayon top from Wilfred, it fits me perfectly! What I love about it is the slightly rounded sleeves? They almost look like tulips. 

I took inspiration from the 1957 photo and wore a straw hat and I think it worked perfectly! its a vintage piece I found earlier this summer and finally got a chance to wear it.  In the original look the model is wearing gloves, and you guys know how much I love gloves and I've been on a summer glove kick this season! Since my top has short sleeves I thought cream crochet ones would be appropriate for this look because they are more subtle and work better for a summer look. As for the shoes... I don't have any 1940s black shoes so I opted for these little black patent heels with an a little strap at the front. For the finishing touch...the  lipstick I am wearing is Dior 999 which is the perfect shade of red!  I loved the way this outfit turned out and I think the reference is very noticeable so I'm really happy with it!  

Let me know what you guys think of this look in the comments below! I had so much fun putting together this look and doing some research to tie it all together! let me know if there are other looks you want me to try to "recreate"!