Exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at Victoria & Albert Museum

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It turns out Christian Dior liked English food. Clearly a charmer and a man who knows his audience, Dior had a strong relationship with London and the British royal family. Many of you probably saw snippets of this exhibition on people’s Instagrams when it was in Paris last year. This is the same, but with an added room explaining his relationship with London. The Victoria & Albert museum did the same with Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty.

This giant Dior exhibition, the largest ever in the UK, charts the miraculous growth and influence of Christian Dior up to the present day.

The staging and room sets are stunning. The lighting and displays make everything look sumptuous. The only negative is, the space will quickly become congested, as there isn’t much room to move, so I would recommend visiting this early or later in the day.

This is pure fashion escapism and is a visual feast, illustrating womenswear from the second half of the 20th century.

From the “New Look” of 1947 to Maria Grazia Chiuri’s present incarnation of Dior, every Creative Director is covered.

John Galliano steals the show and illustrates how he took Dior couture to the maximum of its creative possibilities. It leaves you wanting a solo Galliano exhibition.

Everything in the exhibition is couture and handmade and there’s a beautiful rainbow display showing all the accessories and costume jewellery.

Dior the brand

Dior is one of the biggest brands in the world, today, and while this is a fantastic display, I didn’t leave knowing anymore about the man himself. The exhibition is fairly light on information, but I guess the idea is for crowds to flow and for the museum to really pack in the numbers.

Dior sent the benchmark for mid-20th century femininity and it’s fascinating how the brand continued to grow even though he died just over a decade after the company was established. Dior is one of the most coveted of French fashion houses and, while the last two creative directors haven’t been particularly inspiring, it’s interesting to see how that shape of 1947 continues to resonate.

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams – Until 14th July 2019 – £20