The house’s own historical records identify 1946 as the year the fashion house was established at 30 Avenue Montaigne. LVMH currently lists Delphine Arnault as CEO of Christian Dior Couture.

Christian Dior was born on 21 January 1905 in Granville, Normandy, France. Although he would eventually become one of the most significant couturiers of the 20th century, fashion was not his initial career path.

Raised in a prosperous family, Dior developed a profound interest in art, architecture, gardens, flowers and culture. As a young man, he was active in the Parisian art world and helped operate an art gallery. This experience significantly influenced his later approach to fashion; he viewed clothing not merely as functional objects but as forms of artistic expression.

During the 1930s, Dior began working in fashion illustration before joining the couture house of Robert Piguet. In the early 1940s, he worked for Lucien Lelong, where he developed a technical understanding of couture construction. This background provided him with the experience and confidence necessary to establish his own maison.

In 1946, Christian Dior partnered with French industrialist Marcel Boussac to establish his own couture house. He selected 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris as the location for his maison, an address that would become inseparable from the brand’s identity.

When Dior moved into the building in 1946, the young company comprised only three ateliers and 85 employees. The choice of location was highly symbolic; Dior had reportedly been attracted to the elegant townhouse before establishing his own fashion house and had envisioned founding his future maison there. Today, 30 Avenue Montaigne remains one of the most recognisable addresses in luxury fashion.

The defining moment in Dior’s early history occurred on 12 February 1947, when he presented his first haute couture collection at 30 Avenue Montaigne. The collection introduced silhouettes that were dramatically different from the austere, fabric-conserving clothing associated with the wartime period.

The designs emphasised:

• Narrow, defined waists
• Rounded shoulders
• Fuller busts
• Long, voluminous skirts
• Elegant hips
• Luxurious fabrics
• Highly structured silhouettes

The most famous example from this collection was the Bar jacket and skirt. The collection was soon described as the “New Look,” a phrase associated with Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Carmel Snow. Dior’s silhouette rapidly became an international sensation and helped redefine post-war women’s fashion.

The New Look was more than a successful collection; it established the fundamental visual language of Dior, characterised by femininity, structure, elegance, luxury and couture craftsmanship. The Bar jacket subsequently became one of the enduring symbols of the maison.

Christian Dior’s fashion philosophy was strongly centred on celebrating femininity. Rather than adhering to the practical, restrained silhouettes that had dominated much of wartime fashion, Dior sought to create clothing that evoked fantasy, elegance and beauty.

His designs often emphasised the relationship between the body, fabric, silhouette and movement. Consequently, Dior couture traditionally places enormous importance on tailoring, draping, embroidery, hand finishing, construction, proportion and architectural silhouettes. Dior himself considered fashion closely connected to dreams and imagination, and the maison continues to describe him as a “designer of dreams.”

Flowers have served as one of the most important recurring inspirations in Dior’s visual language. Christian Dior maintained a lifelong fascination with gardens and flowers dating back to his childhood in Granville, later incorporating floral motifs into his clothing, perfumes and interiors.

His relationship with flowers extended beyond mere decoration. Within the Dior aesthetic, flowers represent femininity, beauty, nature, renewal, romance and sensuality. This influence remains visible throughout the maison’s collections and products.