Christian Dior discovered Hollywood early on. It was one of his first clients Marlene Dietrich introduced him to Alfred Hitchcock. “No Dior, No Dietrich” used to say the star in a famous line that no slogan could match. After Dior’s death in 1957 others actresses chose the famous brand for the big screen from Sophia Loren in Charlie Chaplin’s An Unknown Countess in Hong Kong (1958) to Penelope Cruz in Almodovar’s Broken Embraces (2008). An exhibition running through the Summer in France, in Christian Dior Museum in Granville, Normandy, explores the intricate ties between la Maison Dior and the stars.
Elsa Schiaparelli was no stranger to Hollywood. The exotic couturier that was inspired by Surrealists artists like Francis Picabia, Jean Cocteau or Dali had discovered America in 1921 with her husband. Ten years later she was the talk of the town and a households name with her unique creations seen in Every Day’s a Holiday with Mae West and Moulin Rouge with ZsaZsa Gabor.
In an exhibit that just opened at the Met in New York, Elsa Schiaparelli converses with Muccia Prada on the world of fashion yesterday and today in a movie directed by Baz Luhrmann.
http://www.musee-dior-granville.com/
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isAudio=1&isUI=1
Defintitively a very insightful article imho