How Dior's New Look Changed Women's Fashion
Photo: Roger Wood via: WWD
The House of Dior is an infamous luxury fashion brand that has influenced Parisian fashion and in turn, the global fashion industry for decades. The brand has a rich history dating all the way back to the 1940s when the brand's founder Christian Dior released his first ready to wear collection in Spring 1947. This collection called “Corolle” was shown at Dior’s salon on Avenue Montaigne. This was when he created and popularized The New Look silhouette and changed women's fashion forever. The New Look silhouette was a feminine exaggerated hourglass shape that completely enamored women and fashion at the time.
The Bar Suit Photo: Associations Willy Maywald via: Vogue
The most famous garment from this collection was The Bar Suit, which featured a peplum suit jacket with a full pleated skirt that had a nipped in waist. The suit was named after a Bar that Dior went to at the Plaza Athénée. Tiziana Cardini, a Vogue writer said in her article titled Dior’s Bar Jacket: A Brief History, “The Bar suit was an architectural marvel, made with four yards of silk shantung in a soft ivory shade and padded at the hipline for a more rounded, feminine shape…The pleated black Corolle skirt—voluminous at a time when fabric consumption was still restricted—created its own drama. The New Look landed on the international scene with a spectacular bang.” This suit was successful for the brand's first launch. This first collection made Dior a name to watch in the industry and the post war era.
Dior’s Couture Spring/Summer 1947 Fashion Show Photo: Pat English via: Vogue
Even with the industry loving this new collection, Dior was not immune to criticism. The collection was controversial for many female consumers with many women protesting his fashion shows. Many also thought that The New Look’s heavy exaggeration of the female body was objectifying, especially coming from a male designer. Other women thought that it looked uncomfortable and did not focus enough on women’s comfort. Coco Chanel said herself, “Dior doesn't dress women, he upholsters them!..Only a man who never was intimate with a woman could design something that uncomfortable.” Additionally, many women did not have the money or the means after the war to purchase new clothing and completely change their wardrobe. The most notable protesters were called “The Little Below the Knee Club,” who pushed to keep their skirt hemline a little below the knee. They felt that their wardrobe was fine and did not want to change their hemlines or nip in their waists just to keep up with trends. However, even with this pushback from women, Dior pushed on and the style still became a popular trend with because it allowed women’s fashion to go back to the trends before the war started.
A Little Below the Knee Dior Protest Photo: Bettmann via: Fast Company
During World War II, women’s fashion was essentially paused. Designers could only get a specific amount of fabric for their garments and many of their customers were not looking for new clothes. In 1941, clothes were more rationed and materials were more limited. In the US, the government held L-85 laws, which were rationing fabric laws that heavily affected industry growth there. Things such as colors or dyes, buttons or zippers were not as readily available. These rations made it so skirts and dresses could not be as long and full as they once were. During this time, people were not trying to be stylish, so clothing is more focused on practicality. In the late 40s, the fashion industry saw a spike in utility garments that were made from rationed fabrics particularly in Britain. Designers used utility clothing to express their creativity and created new utility styles. After the war was over, the fashion industry had to bounce back and gain resources and consumers again. Clothing productions began to increase again and women gained more choices in fashion.
Christian Dior at his Salon in 1948 Photo: Frank Scherschel The LIFE Picture Collection via: LIFE Magazine
Two years later, The New Look arrived and gave women a new fashionable look. This new silhouette was even more influential at the time because of its release in the postwar era of fashion. This suit was something that they could not only wear but enjoy themselves in after all the turmoil that the war caused. In fashion history, this look is one of the most recognized looks in the 20th century and in the post World War II era of fashion. Even after The New Look has gone away, renditions of it still pop up today. This look created a template for Dior’s future collections even after his death with many creative directors of the brand reinterpreting the suit to match modern times and trends. It embodies the legacy of the brand and is a major highlight in its extensive history.
