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.
Christian Dior Vintage Gold White Pearl Crystals Sparkling Pendant Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1970s Oval White Pearl Sparkling Crystals Pendant Elegant Necklace, Gold Plated Very good condition. Not any stones lost. Small peel off on faux pearl, barely...
Gold Plate
Christian Dior Vintage Gold White Oval Pearl Crystals Linked Pendant Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s Symmetric White Oval Pearl Crystals Interlocked Linked Pendant Elegant Modenrist Necklace, Gold Plated Very excellent condition. Maybe very light scratc...
Gold Plate
Christian Dior Vintage Gold White Pearl Cross Water Tear Drop Pendant Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s Textured White Pearl Water Tear Drop Cross Pendant Elegant Necklace, Gold Plated Very good condition. Very light scratches, barely noticeable. 100% Genu...
Gold Plate
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s Water Drop White Pearl Crystals Gold Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s White Pearl Crystals Water Tear Drop Pendant Elegant Modernist Necklace, Gold Plated Very good condition. 100% Genuine. Rare to find. Marked 'Chr.Dior (...
Gold Plate
Christian Dior Vintage Gold Large Oval White Pearl Crystals Pendant Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s Large Oval White Pearl Curled Bar Crystals Drop Pendant Elegant Necklace, Gold Plated Very excellent condition. 100% Genuine. Rare to find. Marked 'Chr....
Gold Plate
Christian Dior Vintage Gold White Round Pearls Crystals Pendant Elegant Necklace
By Christian Dior
Located in Wokingham, England
Christian Dior Vintage 1980s Four 4 White Round Pearls Crystals Pendant Elegant Modernist Necklace, Gold Plated Very excellent condition. Maybe light scratches or colour loss at cha...
Gold Plate
Vintage 18K Yellow Gold Diamond and Pearl Pendant with Chain.
Located in San Francisco, CA
This Beautiful Vintage Diamond and Pearl Pendant with Chain is just beautiful! Crafted in 18K Yellow Gold, the design features an unique shape, with open work, scrolling filigree, be...
Diamond, Pearl, Yellow Gold
14k Yellow Gold 7.7mm Pearl 0.26ctw Diamond Halo Pendant w/ Curb Link Necklace
Located in Montclair, NJ
–Stone(s)– (1) Genuine Cultured Pearl - Round Cut - Bezel Set - White Color w/ Nice Luster - 7.7mm (approx.) (26) Natural Genuine Diamonds - Old Single Cut - Prong & Channel Set ...
Diamond, Pearl, Gold, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
Victorian Art Nouveau Seed Pearl and 18k Yellow Gold Necklace
Located in Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne
A fine and impressive antique seed pearl necklace in 18 karat yellow gold; part of our seed pearl jewellery collection. This fine and impressive seed pearl necklace has been crafted in 18k yellow gold. This unusual and desirable pendant is embellished with two feature articulated bud style drops, each supporting three suspended pearl terminals. Each bud design is ornamented with five seed pearls, graduating in size dependent on location. The differing length bud drops are suspended via a yellow gold chain, incorporating equidistant seed pearls; the longer chain bears three pearls and the shorter features two pearls. The asymmetrical, Art Nouveau style interlacing design to the apex of the pendant is embellished with thirty-one graduating seed pearls. The feature setting of this Victorian seed pearl necklace is suspended from an 18k yellow gold trace chain via two integrated ring loops. The chain features six further seed pearls and secures to the reverse with a link loop fastening. This impressive and unusual pendant has been independently tested using state of the art technology (Niton XL2 Analyzer) and verified as 18 karat gold. This impressive pendant necklace is supplied with an IDGL gemstone grading report card. Images do not always reflect the true colour and brilliance of gemstones and diamonds. The video however provides a truer representation of the actual colour and showcases each stone in this Victorian pearl necklace in gold...
Pearl, Yellow Gold
Antique 14k Yellow Gold Pearl and Diamond Pendant, Circa 1900, Europe
Located in Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne
A fine and impressive antique 1900s pearl and 0.49 carat diamond, 14 karat yellow gold and platinum set pendant; part of our diverse antique jewelry and estate jewelry collections. This fine and impressive antique pendant has been crafted in 14k yellow gold with a platinum setting. The pierced decorated drop style pendant has been crafted in the form of an overhand knot motif. The platinum set knot is ornamented with a total of eighteen impressive pavé set Old European round cut diamonds, totalling 0.49cts. A stunning single pearl terminal articulates and suspends from the lower border of the design. This impressive antique diamond and pearl pendant...
Diamond, Pearl, 14k Gold, Yellow Gold
Chanel Vintage Gold Faux Pearl Diamond Pendant Chain Necklace
By Chanel
Located in Bellevue, WA
DETAILS: Hallmark: CHANEL Made in France Gold Plated The necklace is in good condition showing minimal wear Measurements approx.: 28 inches chain length Comes with box IMPORTANT INF...
Gold
Art Deco 11mm Gold South Sea Pearl Diamond Pendant in 18 Karat Yellow Gold
Located in Hong Kong, HK
Experience the epitome of elegance with this 18 Karat Yellow Gold Necklace, featuring a captivating 11mm Gold South Sea Pearl. Known for their rich golden hue and unmatched luster, S...
Diamond, South Sea Pearl, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
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.
