Haute couture confections are traditionally the stuff of fantasy and Christian Dior’s made-to-measure collections certainly leave the house’s clients misty-eyed and dreamy.
“It’s [John Galliano’s] ability to create such a lavish mise-en-scène that makes one dream,” said Veronica Hearst, a loyal couture client, recalling the designer’s fall 2005 show, which was set in the ruins of a once-glorious garden.
“His first couture show set the tone for things to follow,” said San Francisco grande dame Dodie Rosekrans, who today is one of the brand’s most faithful clients. “It was very impressive.”
So are the price tags: creations start at around 50,000 euros and go up to as much as 300,000 or more, or roughly $66,000 to $400,000 at current exchange.
And while the famously flamboyant Galliano may occasionally draft circus performers, musicians and live animals for his runway presentations, it’s not only the hoopla that keeps ladies of a certain credit rating coming back for more.
“He is very conscious of women looking like women,” said Hearst, lauding her most recent Dior Couture purchase — a cherry-colored dress with a skin-toned corset and transparent back from the house’s fall 2006 collection. Indeed, Dior’s heritage has been built on giving women the tools to transform themselves into silver-screen goddesses.
“My husband always complained that I was always underdressed,” recalled Mihri Fenwick, an early Christian Dior couture client, in the 1987 documentary “Completely Dior.”
Taking matters into her own hands, Fenwick said she went to Dior’s showroom to be fitted by the designer himself. Upon her return home, her husband seemed to think the elegant but simple dress was too understated for an event that evening.
“He had a thing for Lauren Bacall,” she said. “We arrived at the party, and who did I see in the distance? Lauren Bacall — in the same dress! So I found my husband and pointed to Lauren Bacall and I said, ‘You see, I’m not the only one who appreciated Christian’s simple style.'”