Dior, Christian

Christian Dior was a man, a legend, a fashion institution, and his name continues through time evoking feelings of luxury and timeless elegance. He is best known for the post war fashion phenomenon called "the new look" of 1947. His vision for this collection was more floral than revolutionary, as he called it le Corolle, (a French term for the shape of a flower). Dior started life as an art dealer, but for financial reasons he took a job with Robert Piguet, then served a few years in military duty. Upon release from the military he landed a job as head designer (along with Pierre Balmain) at Lucien Lelong. In 1946 he left Lelong to open his own fashion house and quickly became the biggest name in fashion. Dior passed away in 1957, succeeded by his assistant Yves Saint Laurent. Laurent was followed in 1960 by Marc Bohan, in 1989 Gianfranco Ferre' took over and in 1996 John Galliano was the head, until he had a total mental break down in 2011 so Bill Gayten took over for a few years until Raf Simons took the helm from 2012 - 2015.