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. Vintage Dior bags, shoes, evening dresses, shirts and other garments and accessories are known today for their feminine and sophisticated sensibility.
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 couture 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.
$27,720 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Contempora by D&H Sterling Silver Flatware Set 12 Service 103 pc Art Deco Dinner
By Dominick & Haff
Located in Big Bend, WI
Noted Finnish-born architect Eliel Saarinen designed Contempora in 1927 for "The Architect and the Industrial Arts," the Metropolitan Museum of Art's eleventh exhibition of contempor...
Sterling Silver
$9,500 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Renaissance by Fogh of Denmark Danish Sterling Silver Flatware Set Service 64 Pc
By S. Christian Fogh
Located in Big Bend, WI
S. Christian Fogh, a Danish silversmith, operated a workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1947-1973. He was known for his unique jewelry and flatware creations. Rare Renaissance b...
Sterling Silver
$18,828
H 0.79 in W 8.27 in D 1.78 in
20th Century Italian Solid Silver Cutlery Set 77 Pieces "Art Decò"
By Ricci Argentieri
Located in VALENZA, IT
New complete cutlery set 77 pieces in solid silver "Art Decòl" DIVA by Ricci Argenteria Alessandria - Italy. The service is composed as follows: N ° 12 Table forks N ° 12 Table spoo...
Silver
$20,950 / set
H 1 in W 1 in D 1 in
Marie Louise by Cartier Sterling Silver Flatware Set 12 Service 112 pcs
By Cartier
Located in Big Bend, WI
Monumental Marie Louise by Cartier sterling silver flatware set, 112 pieces. This set includes: 12 knives, 9" 12 forks, 7 1/4" 12 salad forks, 6 3/8" 24 teaspoons, 5 7/8" 12 cream soup spoons, 6 1/4" 12 flat handle butter spreaders, 5 3/4" 12 cocktail forks, 5 1/2" 1 gravy ladle, 6 3/4" 1 cold meat fork, 7 1/2" 1 sugar spoon, 5 3/4" 2 flat handle master butters, 7" 1 pickle fork, 5 1/2" 1 tomato server, 7 1/4" 1 salad serving set w/wood, 10 3/4" 1 pie server w/stainless blade, 10" 1 jelly server, 6 1/4" 1 roast carving set, 2-piece, 13 3/4" 1 steak carving set, 2-piece, 10 1/4" 1 cheese server w/stainless blade, 6 1/4". Includes some vintage Cartier storage...
Sterling Silver
$21,067 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Century by Tiffany and Co. Sterling Silver Flatware Set Service 53 pcs Dinner
By Tiffany & Co.
Located in Big Bend, WI
Century (circa 1937) by Tiffany: Century's clean, simple lines and “stepped” pattern typify the American Art Deco style of the 1930s and make it a favorite for contemporary settings...
Sterling Silver
$9,500 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Renaissance by Fogh of Denmark Danish Sterling Silver Flatware Set Service 60 Pc
By S. Christian Fogh
Located in Big Bend, WI
S. Christian Fogh, a Danish silversmith, operated a workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1947-1973. He was known for his unique jewelry and flatware creations. Rare Renaissance b...
Sterling Silver
$16,000
H 8.27 in W 0.79 in D 0.4 in
Antique French sterling silver cutlery set by Alphonse Debaine, Art Deco 20th Ce
By Alphonse Debain
Located in Autonomous City Buenos Aires, CABA
Antique French sterling silver cutlery set by Alphonse Debaine, Art Deco 20th Ce This Beautiful set include: 148 pieces in total. Description: 24 dinner forks - 21.5 centimeters 1...
Sterling Silver
$19,500 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Palace by Fogh of Denmark Danish Sterling Silver Flatware Set 12 Service 88 Pcs
By S. Christian Fogh
Located in Big Bend, WI
S. Christian Fogh, a Danish silversmith, operated a workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1947-1973. He was known for his unique jewelry and flatware creations. Palace by Fogh of Denmark, circa 1950, Sterling Silver...
Sterling Silver
$8,250 / set
H 1 in W 1 in D 1 in
Marie Louise Gold Blackinton Sterling Silver Flatware Set Service 45 Pcs Dinner
Located in Big Bend, WI
Dinner size Marie Louise with gold accent by Blackinton sterling silver flatware set, 45 pieces. This set includes: 8 dinner size knives, 9 3/4" 8 dinner size forks, 7 3/4" 8 salad forks, 6 3/8" 8 teaspoons, 6" 8 place soup spoons, 6 3/4" 1 gravy ladle, 6 1/2" 1 serving spoon, 8 1/2" 1 pierced serving spoon, 8 1/2" 1 cold meat fork, 7 3/4" 1 hollow handle master butter, 6 3/4" Includes bonus brand new storage chest - styles vary. Excellent condition, with no monograms. This set will be beautifully professionally polished prior to shipping. Marie Louise'- Blackinton contracted with the State Department to make Marie Louise (circa 1939) for all American Embassies. This timeless pattern was used in all of the American Embassies for dinners and events. This pattern was re-introduced by Lunt as Embassy Scroll...
Sterling Silver
$15,500 / set
H 12 in W 18 in D 18 in
Flemish by Tiffany and Co Sterling Silver Flatware Set Service 76 pieces Dinner
By Tiffany & Co.
Located in Big Bend, WI
Tiffany's Flemish pattern was designed in 1911 and is a modification of the English Trifid End pattern of the eighteenth century. A gracefully simple design, Flemish is harmonious wi...
Sterling Silver
Jean Puiforcat - Art Deco Cutlery Flatware Set Chantaco Plated Silver 80 Pieces
By Puiforcat, Jean Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Art Deco Cutlery Flatware set "Chantaco" made in plated silver by Maison Puiforcat based on a drawing by Jean E. Puiforcat dating from 1924. Set for 8 people - 80 pieces including :...
Silver Plate
Jean E Puiforcat Cutlery Flatware Set Art Deco Normandie Royan Sterling Silver
By Puiforcat, Jean Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Cutlery Flatware set Art Deco "Rohan" (it is Normandie Pattern but in sterling silver) made in 950/1000th solid sterling silver by Jean E. Puiforcat. All sterling silver pieces are ...
Silver, Sterling Silver
Jean E Puiforcat Cutlery Flatware Set Art Deco Antibes Sterling Silver
By Jean Puiforcat, Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Art Deco cutlery flatware set "Antibes" made in solid sterling silver Minerva 1st Titre 950/1000 by Jean E. Puiforcat. Set including 49 pieces: - 12 dinner forks - 12 dinner kni...
Silver, Sterling Silver
Jean Puiforcat Art Deco Cutlery Flatware Papyrus Dinard Sterling Silver 166 Pces
By Puiforcat, Jean Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Art Deco cutlery flatware set "Papyrus" - "Dinard" made in solid sterling silver Minerva 1st Titre 950/1000 by Jean E. Puiforcat. Set composed of 166 pieces: - 24 table forks - 24 t...
Sterling Silver
Puiforcat - Cutlery Flatware Set Elysee Sterling Silver & Vermeil - 165 Pieces
By Puiforcat, Emile Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Cutlery Flatware set "Elysee" made in 950/1000th solid sterling silver and vermeil by Puiforcat. Cutlery/Flatware set including 165 pieces: - 24 table forks - silver - 24 table kniv...
Gold Plate, Vermeil, Sterling Silver
Puiforcat Art Deco Cutlery Flatware Papyrus Plated Silver 80 Pieces
By Jean Puiforcat, Puiforcat
Located in Boulogne Billancourt, FR
Art Deco cutlery flatware set "Papyrus" made in plated sterling silver by Puiforcat. Model designed in sterling silver by Jean E. Puiforcat in 1929 and called "Dinard". Set compose...
Silver Plate
Andy Warhol and the fashion house’s first collections were among the creative director’s inspirations.
There's a renewed appreciation for the era's aesthetic, perhaps most notably among millennials seeking authentic, easy style.
