We spotted Mila Kunis looking quite lovely in Paris. The actress wore a pale pink lace dress. An understated yet chic cream coat kept her warm.
Nude peep-toe pumps were the perfect shoe choice for the feminine ensemble. Mila off-set the ultra-sweet dress with sleek dark tresses.
It’s no surprise that Mila Kunis was at the Christian Dior show in Paris. After all, Mila currently serves as one of the brand’s spokesperson. Other famous spokeswomen include Charlize Theron and Natalie Portman.
We’ve spotted other celebrities with a similar look, including Freida Pinto, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry. Check out all 1158 pictures in the Peep Toe Pumps Lookbook.

Karlie Kloss 5 Best Paris Fashion Week Looks.

As expected, Karlie Kloss ruled the runways during Paris Fashion Week. After skipping New York, London and Milan, the 19-year-old beauty proved just why she is one of the best in the biz as she walked 15 shows in less than 10 days: Elie Saab, Miu Miu, Kanye West, Hakan, Paul & Joe, Paco Rabane, Stella McCartney, Kenzo, Haider Ackerman, Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Viktor + Rolf, Christian Dior, Blamain and Anthony Vaccarello. Of these, she opened four and closed four.

So, since calling her the biggest model of the week is just a foregone conclusion, let’s take a look at her five best runway looks.

• Anthony Vaccarello — Karlie made her Paris debut storming the runway in a buttoned-up shirt, blouson jacket, and high-waisted pants that was both military and chic.
• Balmain — Karlie walked this show for the first time and the simple make-up and hair did wonders for her natural beauty.
• Christian Dior — Karlie has long been a muse for the house and looked elegant closing the show in a tulle evening gown.
• Paul & Joe — Proving she can do dressed up or dressed down to the same glamorous effect, Karlie opened and closed this show looking fantastic in pants and a top.
• Elie Saab-  For the last show of the week, Karlie rocked both the severe bangs all the girls wore as well as the red carpet evening wear Saab has become known for.

Christian Dior to show classic PFW show.

Christian Dior’s Fall/Winter 12 line contains new takes on classic pieces.

The French fashion house will show at Paris Fashion Week on Friday. Head of design Bill Gaytten has once again worked on the collection, having taken the reins while a replacement is found for shamed star John Galliano.

The label has given British newspaper The Telegraph a sneak peak at what will be displayed tomorrow, with the publication explaining the collection is a natural progression from last season. The clothes are stylish and chic, but not as theatrical as under Galliano.

“We would have had to move on whatever happened,” Gaytten explained.

“Fashion has changed so much in the past year. Suddenly classics are what look new.”

The Telegraph explains most of the fabrics are stiff, such as thick chiffon and silk. Dresses boast round necks and coats forgo collars.

In keeping with the shows in Milan and New York, dresses and skirts hit mid-calf. Colours range from pinks to pale purple and grey, with the publication noting many of the aesthetics are extremely reminiscent of looks created by the fashion house in the ‘40s.

Paris Fashion Week continued today with Balenciaga showing a futuristic collection. Designer Nicolas Ghesquière imagined what working at the funky label in the ‘80s would have been like, then gave the look his own spin.

“We imagined this Balenciaga Inc. company and then we started to identify the functions the staff have and the clothes they would wear – the space-age sweatshirt girls were the spies infiltrating the company,” he said.

Coats had rounded shoulders and were relaxed rather than tailored, while dresses and skirts had chiffon panels and came in electric blue and purple.

The usual skin-tight trousers were swapped for baggier versions, worn with space-age jackets boasting square necks and exaggerated shoulders.

Tomorrow sees Roland Mouret, Isabel Mourant and Sonia Rykiel presenting.

God, mean girls and Dior mix in new comedy GCB

People are wondering how the Christian right will react to the new ABC comedy GCB, based on a novel called Good Christian Bitches, but it’s a silly question. Long before there was a Bible Belt, this kind of woman was in the Bible — Jezebel was the first true mean girl (Revelation 2:20).

GCB, which begins tonight, is a fried-green Desperate Housewives, with a little bit of Carrie Bradshaw tossed in, which is to say that one of the executive producers is Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias), and another is Darren Star (Sex and the City). The result is a network comedy that sends up sex, sin and Southern Baptists, or at least the pious parvenus of Dallas.

In short, there are some funny lines and a lot of designer shoes, decolletage and choir practice. Or as the show’s Alpha mean girl, Carlene, played by Kristin Chenoweth, puts it, “Cleavage makes your cross hang straight.”

There’s also a homage to the sitcom Designing Women, including a shallow former ex-beauty queen like the one played by Delta Burke. Only in this iteration all the women are like Delta Burke, or worse. Annie Potts, who played the nice Mary Jo in Designing Women, is cast here as Gigi, a wealthy society matron who loves clothes and Jesus.

“I feel confident the good Lord would like me to have a new fur coat,” she says. “God often speaks to me through Christian Dior.”

When Gigi tells her grandchildren that their mother was a mean girl in high school, she makes it sound like she was a National Merit scholar.

“Mean girl” is a term a little like “identity crisis”; it caught on because it framed female competition much the way Erik Erikson’s phrase distilled a certain form of confusion. And ever since Desperate Housewives became a hit, ABC has tried to corner the mean girl market with ever bolder versions of woman’s cruelty to woman, most recently with the soapy drama Revenge.

But ABC is part of the Walt Disney Co., so it sometimes has to eat its bad words. GCB was originally titled Good Christian Bitches, then switched to Good Christian Belles before retreating to initials that are confusingly like the fashion label BCBG. The same thing happened with the title of another mean-girl show on ABC, a sitcom set in New York that begins next month and is now coyly titled Don’t Trust the B— in Apt 23.

The plot of GCB revolves around Gigi’s prodigal daughter, Amanda (Leslie Bibb), a former homecoming queen who has to flee to Dallas, Texas from Santa Barbara, Calif., after her husband’s Ponzi scheme unravels and he dies in a car accident with his mistress. Most of the jokes are about sex or Christians, but sometimes multiculturalism gets tweaked: In the pilot an African-American reporter covering the embezzlement scandal is named Bridget Sanchez-Fong.

Amanda wants to get a job and start a new life, but instead finds herself sucked back into the catty clique she thought she had outgrown. All the women she once dominated and tormented are determined to seek revenge, led by the queen bee, Carlene, a former loser turned Scripture-quoting business mogul who wears eight-inch heels and pink Chanel rompers. Amanda doesn’t recognize the blond, Botoxed Carlene as her former classmate with bad skin and few friends.

“Carlene’s had a little work done,” Gigi whispers to her daughter in church Sunday. “That’s a tear-down,” her daughter replies.

Carlene’s wing woman is Cricket (Miriam Shor), who runs a country-western fashion line with her designer husband, Blake (Mark Deklin), and is tense and imperious. She snaps at an assistant to book an appointment with her Pilates instructor, Jorge, which she pronounces, “hoar-HAY.”

Heather (Marisol Nichols) is a real estate agent, and Sharon (Jennifer Aspen) is the binge-eating former pageant contestant; they too scheme to bring Amanda down a peg and also to keep her away from the husbands.

Chenoweth, who is a practising Christian in real life, plays the part with arch aplomb that may not mollify viewers sensitive about religion.

“I had to get some body work done, and they messed up my colon,” Carlene says sorrowfully over the phone to her husband. The camera pulls back and it turns out she is in an auto repair shop, upset because the mechanic incorrectly stencilled a Bible citation onto the rear of her Bentley — John:316 instead of John 3:16. Carlene whispers into the phone, “I don’t think he’s Christian.”

CHRISTIAN DIOR

To slightly underwhelming applause it was, again, “interim” designer Bill Gaytten who closed Dior’s ready-to-wear show in a balletic display of lowered 1950s hemlines that missed the exuberance of January’s couture offering.

With reports his contract would end in May, the fall-winter collection was meant to be the designer’s last. But the talk of the front row was whether Dior might keep him on for another year.

Swan song or no, “Swan Lake” could have characterized the show: Balletic-high waistlines topped a new, longer-length skirt with knife-edged pleats and a more structured silhouette.

Some of the looks got it just right, like a skintight eggplant silk sweater that resembled a dancer’s leotard, on an embroidered silk skirt in violet that fluttered past like tulip petals.

The sex appeal was also turned up in the odd play of sheer paneling on the house’s signature 1950s gowns, in blushed nudes and inky jewel tones, that are shaping this fall’s look.

That Gaytten chose Karlie Kloss — the 6-foot ballet-dancer-turned-supermodel — to close the show was a playful touch. However, given this is ready-to-wear, the ground-bound hemlines — mid-calf or floor-length on the catwalks — would likely drown out the a normal woman’s body.

Dior hems plunge, Lanvin celebrates in Paris.

The buzz at Paris’s ready-to-wear shows on Friday wasn’t just about the clothes.

Bill Gaytten, former designer John Galliano’s temporary replacement, was again at the helm of Christian Dior’s fashion collection, directing a demure, play-it-safe show that channeled the powerhouse’s bread-and-butter New Look-inspired gowns with cinched 1950s waists.

But the collection was almost overshadowed by chatter that Gaytten, who was supposed to continue for only a few seasons, may be kept on longer.

Will he become the longest-serving interim designer in fashion history?

Day four of the frantic nine days of the Paris fashion calendar was also colored by the celebrity-filled, energetic spectacle offered by Lanvin.

Israeli creative director Alber Elbaz was toasting 10 successful years at the company, with a strong and creative array of dresses that revisited several eras of the house’s clothes rail all the way back to the Art Deco days of Jeanne Lanvin. There is reason for the company to celebrate with an impressive 24 percent increase in sales last year alone. A second celebration is planned for April in Beijing.

In other shows, Sonia Rykiel presented a comfy but high-collared journey through different looks and eras of the Parisienne gamine.

Christian Dior Designer Bill Gaytten Redefines Red Carpet Fashion

The Dior auteur combines formidable with feminine in designs destined to be worn by Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.

Christian Dior showed their ready-to-wear fall 2012 line in Paris on Friday, and while there’s no knowing how long ad hoc Dior designer Bill Gaytten will remain with the house, this fall collection was masterful. There’s supposedly an announcement coming any minute naming either Raf Simmons or Haider Ackermann as the company’s new designer, but Dior could do worse than to hang on to Gaytten, especially since someone else will snap him up in a Parisian minute if they don’t.

Since so many actresses love and wear Dior — Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, and Mila Kunis (who was at the show in Paris) among many others — we can be expect to see Dior’s silhouettes at premieres and parties in the coming months. Expect for example to see these looks at the Cannes Film Festival in May: fuller skirted gowns instead of 2011’s ubiquitous mermaid fishtails, but with much tigher bodices.

Skirts will be made of chiffon or silk — pleated, semi-sheer and flowing. And not one but two of the gowns were in glorious, soft shades of pink, one peach, the other candy pink. But their armorlike bodices offered a sharp contrast to the soft skirts, radiating soft and hard simultaneously as they communicate a decidedly girlier look than has been seen in recent gowns from other design houses.

What is going on inside Christian Dior’s directive remains a mystery, no one is really sure about it. But it has been a long time since John Galliano’s departure and Bill Gaytten’s appointment as a temporary Creative Director. And after Jil Sander’s shakeup, everybody is still wondering what is next for the French house. Aside from all that unnecessary drama inside one of the most legendary houses, Gaytten gave us once again a beautiful collection full of luxurious and safe pieces.

Bill Gaytten for Christian Dior was very… “Christian Dior,” with another run of modern versions of the legendary “New Look” that made the couturier a household name and a part of fashion history. There was nothing new about it, just beautiful and glamorous pieces with a retro vibe worthy of the Hollywood golden age and its starlets, but with a John Galliano twist, making it very clear who is the real face behind contemporary Christian Dior.

Every time a Christian Dior by Bill Gaytten collection is shown it is inevitable to see Galliano’s aesthetic as the heart of it, but without that dazzling feeling of avant-guardism, spectacle, freshness, and rebellious luxury. The wow factor is certainly missing but the prettiness – thank god – is not. There were lavish and beautiful wrapped jackets and sweaters, wide skirts, flowing pleated dresses, fur coats, decadent embellishment, and ethereal ensembles with hardcore hints of leather; the evening gowns were as luxurious, ravishing, and alluring as usual, everything of course with cinched waists, the modern take on 1947’s new look.

It was a beautiful and very salable collection full of magnificent and expensive pieces, but with everything that is going on behind closed doors it is difficult to take this as seriously as it should be taken, especially knowing that all of this is part of a temporary solution while they find a suitable replacement for the brilliant Galliano. The brand is going through hard times, really tough times, because there are very big shoes to fill, and taking this as a “meanwhile” collection is fine, but certainly not as a definitive one.

Marc Jacobs to Dior Rumors Swirl Again.

Is this rumor seriously not dead yet? It was, but now it has apparently risen from the grave…

British Vogue reports that the Louis Vuitton creative director is again thinking about making the transfer to Dior. Rumors from anonymous fashion insiders began yesterday when Marc Jacobs sat front row at Miu Miu.

“Whispers on the Miu Miu front row [Wednesday] afternoon (where Marc Jacobs tapped his feet as he watched the show), suggest that Jacobs is set to be announced as the Christian Dior creative director this afternoon,” BV insiders said.

Well, the mumblings did not exactly pan out given that Wednesday afternoon was about 24 hours ago Paris time. The timing is only half the rumor, though. Jacobs as the new Dior Creative Director rumblings are still alive and well.

Jacobs’ name has certainly been the most popular and widely circulated.

Does the fashion community seriously have a bowl of designers’ names on white pieces of paper and pick a new one as the newest rumor for the position every so often and then circulate said name and then place that piece of paper back in the bowl? Seriously?

Other names that have recently been picked from the bowl are Raf Simons, Stefano Pilati and Haider Ackermann. Simons just left Jil Sander two weeks ago. Pilati left Yves Saint Laurent two weeks ago, too. Ackermann worked in at Dior in the mid-90s alongside Dior’s former creative director John Galliano.

Galliano was fired in January 2011 for his drunken anti-Semitic and racial remarks that were caught on camera.

The anxiousness is slowly converting to annoyance. Actually, the annoyance has been fueling greater feelings of annoyance for several weeks.

For the record, Jacobs recently announced that he is staying with Louis Vuitton.Since Paris Fashion Week ended Wednesday, the newest timing rumor is that the haute couture maison will announce its newest creative director Thursday.

Women’s Wear Daily reported this morning that Hedi Slimane, the former men’s designer at Christian Dior who has spent the last several years on walkabout, pursuing an interest in photography, had agreed to be the new creative director at Yves Saint Laurent. I am not generally a close follower of fashion-industry news, but six years ago I wrote a Profile of Slimane, and so have been curious to see where he might turn up again. Reticent, exacting, somehow simultaneously doleful and sweet, he seemed very careful about how he came across, and only slightly less careful about trying to convey that he didn’t care how he came across. It was clear that his reappearance on the fashion scene wouldn’t be improvised.

By coming to Y.S.L., Slimane, who is forty-three, goes back to where he started in the business fifteen years ago, as the very young, and green, designer of the menswear line, which, to quote from the Profile,

Paris Fashion Week: Christian Dior autumn/winter 2012 exclusive preview

Paris Fashion Week: Lanvin, Celine, Givenchy, Christian Dior and more!

Luxe labels including Lanvin, Celine, Givenchy and Christian Dior pulled out all the stops over the weekend at Paris Fashion Week

Drama, romance, rainbow brights and cool winter cover-ups, Paris Fashion Week had it all and then some, with the likes of Christian Dior, Celine, Viktor & Rolf, Givenchy and Lavin showing their Autumn Winter 2012 collections in the fashion capital over the weekend

PARIS FASHION WEEK

With the question of John Galliano’s replacement at Christian Dior still the talk of the town, whisperings subsided as soon as the lights went down and a beautiful ballet-inspired collection in dove greys, dusty pinks and black hit the catwalk.

Meanwhile, the mood was celebratory at Lanvin with Alber Elbaz acknowledging his 10th year at the helm of the brand with an instant of hit of rainbow brights and ruffles, ripples and peplums galore. And as a special treat at the end of his show, Mr E. serenaded the fash-crowd with a version of Que Sera Sera.

CELEBRITIES FRONT ROW AT FASHION WEEK

With a runway lit by moonlight, Viktor & Rolf did drama like only the designer duo know how. Jumpsuits flowinglike liquid gold, opulent furs and sheer-paneled evening gowns were given a gothic edge with models sporting dark crimson lips and kohl-rimmed eyes.

With an all together lighter and brighter theme, and model-of-the-moment Cara Delevigne on the catwalk, Cacharel charmed audiences with a soft palette of blues and perfect prints.

Although a stripped-back presentation, due to creative director Phoebe Philo being in the late stages of pregnancy, the Celine collection didn’t disappoint with the clean lines, rich hues and colour-block furs.

And with supple leathers, sleek silks and luxurious furs, Riccardo Tisci went for gothic allure adding a pop of colour in lace-trimmed dresses at Givenchy.

Deciding on The Daily Shoe, T’s regular Fashion Week feature starring a favorite shoe (just one) from a day of shows (10 or 12 every 24 hours sometimes), was terrifically challenging. How does an editor pick Chanel over Alexander McQueen (both occurred on March 6), Lanvin over Christian Dior (March 2), Jil Sander over Bottega Veneta (Feb. 25)? Not easily. No doubt, narrowing a collection’s worth down to just The One was the painful part (contrary to what those who’ve commented on a heel’s comfort factor, or lack thereof, may want to believe). In the end, the shoes that offered newness or reinforced trend won out, although that’s not to say that novelty wasn’t rewarded (see Versace’s fishnet boots), or that gut reactions weren’t acted upon. “The Jil Sander shoes” was the subject heading of an e-mail I received from T’s Sally Singer: “gorgeous, especially the sandal w/ the neon fuchsia squiggle up the side (like the last look).” The sandals were still coming down the runway. Another e-mail from Singer alerted me to what was ahead: “Tomorrow there’s going to be a jeweled brothel creeper at Armani that could be very cute, if you want a flat.” Indeed, that flat was featured, not just because it offered us a break from high heels, but because it hit on the emerging metal toe cap trend and because, frankly, I like flats. Are shoes not personal, after all? Of course there’s one — or two or ten — for everyone, but if you didn’t find it on The Moment this past month, perhaps our runners-up — Alexander McQueen’s heel-less fur-front booties; Christian Dior’s elegant pointe-shoe-inspired platforms; Meadham Kirchhoff’s glittery, witchy heels, among them — will do the trick.

Conservative collection by Dior a detour from backstage drama.

THE drama behind the scenes failed to upstage the delights on the runway at the Christian Dior show during Paris Fashion Week.

Ladylike below-the-knee silk skirts and jackets with bracelet sleeves belted at the waist were among the highlights of the ballet-inspired show that comprised a confident – if conservative – remix of Dior classics. “It’s still very Christian Dior but cleaned up and still very elegant,” the designer, Bill Gaytten, said backstage yesterday.

The structure of Christian Dior’s sculptural gowns was reinterpreted via sheer panels and floor-sweeping skirts in the show at the Rodin Museum in Paris.

Houndstooth was reworked on pale pink and ink navy coats and jackets, and masculine tailoring of the house was softened with a dance-influenced element in the form of cozy cross-over jackets worn with tutu-like floaty skirts in a palette of ballet-pink, pale grey and ice blue.

The theme chimed with the front-row presence of the Black Swan star and Dior ambassador Mila Kunis, who was joined at the pointy end of the runway by the model Natalia Vodianova.

For evening, bodices were leotard-like and featured jewels or sequined capelets that sparkled above cocoon-like skirts.

Former ballet dancer turned model Karlie Kloss closed the show with a diaphanous floor-length pleated grape gown with an asymmetrical panel at the bust.

Gaytten has been acting designer at Dior for almost exactly a year since the disgraced John Galliano was ousted for making anti-Semitic slurs.

According to the industry bible Women’s Wear Daily, finding a Galliano successor may no longer be on the agenda. Sources told the publication that because of commercial – but not unanimously critical – success under the acting designer , Dior was “mulling continuing with a team approach, possibly adding some young, up-and-coming talents.”

Until just a couple of days ago, it was believed that the Belgian-born Raf Simons would be the permanent successor to the French luxury house, following his exit from Jil Sander during Milan Fashion Week.

After a previously critically panned collection, yesterday’s show was safe rather than superlative but nonetheless received a warm reception from a cheering audience.

The reporter travelled to Paris courtesy of Australian Wool Innovation.

Christian Dior Fall 2012

By Keesean Moore

The collections in Europe have made it exceptionally difficult to focus on the clothes. Not because there’s lackluster design by any means—Paris and Milan have definitely delivered the goods—but because some of Fashion’s most influential houses are in a state of limbo. The drama is distracting. With Raf Simons’ last collection for Jil Sander shown a few weeks back in Milan, and Stefano Pilati’s last showing for Yves Saint Laurent presented at the close of Paris fashion week, it’s hard to focus on the here and now with so much uncertainty in the not-too-distant future.

Maybe that’s why designers like Raf Simons and John Galliano are so talented. They both manage to suspend time for a moment, and bring all our attention to the possibilities and restrictions of dress. Bill Gaytten’s latest collection for Dior was above all else a graceful bunch of directionless clothes. He has the difficult and temporary task of retraining fashion’s eye to do without Galliano’s bravado, and his shows are received with a hangover’s gaze. His collection for fall 2012 was almost as neutral as his color palette. With cement, putty, black, and brown he composed a 56-piece show of simple, wearable clothes.

Because the lifespan of Gaytten’s position at the top of one of the last living couture houses is coming to a swift and uncertain end, you could tell that he has a lot of difficulty, or reluctance, developing a narrative to sell us. Galliano had stability and the uncanny ability to captivate our imaginations, granting us the permission to dream, and dream big. With Gaytten’s collections you always get the feeling that he’s walking a tightrope, and his shows always fall on the safe side, which was territory Galliano made sure to steer clear of.

All that aside Gaytten’s collection had tons of rack appeal. Delicate and approachable outerwear and A-line dresses were impeccably constructed and easily digestible, which is more a testament to the Dior’s talented atelier than Gaytten’s knack for interesting design. I liked his focus on pleats, diaphanous fabrics, and the traditional Dior oversized bow, but after being held within a dream state for so long there’s bound to be some of resistance to unavoidable realities.

Natalie Portman Christian Dior Oscars dress sold for $50,000

Natalie Portman’s vintage Christian Dior Oscars gown divided fashion critics, but a couture collector has snapped it up for a massive $50,000 (£31,651).

The red polka dot dress dates back to the fashion house’s 1954 spring/summer collection, and has reportedly been bought by a London-based fashion fan, despite the weighty price tag.

Portman originally had another dress in mind to wear to the prestigious ceremony, but when she tried on the silk gown in New York couture dealers Rare Vintage, she knew it was the one, according stylist Kate Young, speaking to Intothegloss.com.

She said: ‘I got a call from the woman at Rare Vintage and she was like, “You should see this dress for Natalie.” So we went and she put it on, and it needed zero alterations, and Natalie was like, “This was meant to be, wasn’t it?” And I said, “I guess it was.”‘

Pairing the eye-catching piece with a black clutch and a chunky silver necklace, the Black Swan actress made headlines on the red carpet.

Shortly afterwards, the boutique put the US size 4 gown under the hammer on website 1stdibs.com, where it was swiftly snapped up.

It is little surprise that the look had so many fans, with the structured garment celebrating the feminine fifties style that is enjoying something of a renaissance at the moment.

MOSCOW - Christian Dior presents the exhibition Christian Dior: 60 years of Photography that will be held during the 6th International Festival “Fashion and Style in Photography 2009”. This exhibition tells the history of Christian Dior through a selection of 120 pictures from the world’s greatest photographers. In 2009, Christian Dior reveals its photographical gems at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, one of Moscow’s most prestigious museums.

Dior has always fostered a special bond with great photographers. In the 1940s and 1950s Erwin Blumenfeld, Willy Maywald, John Rawlings, Henry Clarke, Robert Randall and Horst P. Horst, amongst others, immortalised Dior’s most beautiful creations. This tradition still lives strong. Nowadays, Dior is proud to work not only with the greatest established photographers but also with young talents – today’s undeniable creative forces.

The first room displays the work of Patrick Demarchelier who photographed the 2007 spring-summer Haute Couture show for Pirelli Calendar. The second room shows the pictures that Zanna, a British photographer, took backstage in July 2007 at the Haute Couture show which was held in Versailles to celebrate Dior’s 60th anniversary. The third room is dedicated to the pictures that Simon Procter took to celebrate John Galliano’s 10th anniversary at the helm of Dior. Simon Procter shot a series of portraits of the designer amongst models wearing his Haute Couture gowns. Three separate rooms are dedicated to the work of Chinese artists. Young artist Quentin Shih brings the 2008 winter Haute Couture show into Chinese landscapes. Wang Qingsong gives us his interpretation of The Last Supper. Rong Rong & Inri reinterpret Dior items which are reminiscent of Asia. The exhibition continues with the work of Guido Mocafico who shot Victoire de Castellane’s amazing fine jewellery creations called Belladone in 2007. Finally, another room shows a selection from Nan Goldin’s Wild Horses series that features Kris Van Assche’s menswear clothes for Dior.

In the early 50s, Dior started developing strong relations with USSR. In 1959, models were sent to Moscow to present 120 of Christian Dior’s couture creations. The event was a huge success and over a period of three days, 1100 people came to see the collection at the Soviet Wings club in Moscow.

John Galliano paid tribute to Russia on numerous occasions. The 1998 spring-summer Haute Couture fashion show echoed oriental influences from the Russian ballet. The spring-summer 2002 collection was designed after a trip to Russia, during which John Galliano visited the Museum of Ethnology in St. Petersburg. In 2006, Sharon Stone accompanied Bernard Arnault and Sidney Toledano at the opening of the Dior store at GUM in Moscow.

SHANGHAI — John Galliano gave this city a heaping dose of Parisian chic on Saturday night, unveiling Christian Dior Nouvelle Vague-inspired cruise collection in a massive tent along the city’s celebrated Bund. The show coincided with the reopening of Dior’s revamped boutique in luxury shopping mall Plaza 66 and the inauguration of a retrospective exhibition. Galliano’s decision to incorporate haute couture creations, such as dramatic organza and tulle gowns, into the show further underscores just how much the house is banking on big spenders in China.

“As a designer, I’m very much sensitive to my markets,” Galliano, who was wearing braided pigtails, told WWD in an interview from the vertigo-inducing 93rd floor of the Park Hyatt, overlooking the city’s sci-fi skyline of spires and skyscrapers. “[China is an] emerging market and a big player in the field and very thirsty to understand couture, craftsmanship and the savoir faire Français.”

Although Dior chief executive officer Sidney Toledano declined to disclose sales figures, he said Christian Dior is registering “very strong double-digit” growth in China. “Price is not a problem,” he said, adding there were some customers who insisted on coming to preview the Plaza 66 store’s new Parisian decor a day before it opened to the public and place orders. “It’s a market that is growing at a speed…not only numbers but [in terms of] the depth of their understanding and demand,” Toledano said.
Bernard Arnault, LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton chairman and ceo, expressed a similar view. “We want to show the Chinese customer what is Christian Dior today.”

Although Galliano has referenced Asian themes in several of his past collections, the designer said he thought it was important for Dior to make a characteristically French statement and “capture the exuberance, the energy” of French New Wave cinema and its heroines, Jean Seberg, Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau and Françoise Hardy.

“I didn’t want to come here and present a Chinese-inspired collection to my Chinese friends,” said Galliano, clad in a checked shirt, vest, rolled jeans and a black hat with feather trim. “I’m the ambassador of the house of Dior, and I wanted to come here with a French-inspired collection and to show the savoir faire of France.”

Karlie Kloss opened the show in a dress of butter-soft pink plissé leather with scalloped details as a miniature orchestra harmonized to a rousing soundtrack of Diana Ross & the Supremes’ “Love Child.” Galliano progressed to flirty frocks in striped knits and delicately faded rose prints. He also revisited the iconic Bar jacket — one version came in Prince of Wales plaid with cap sleeves and a large bow. “You can imagine her — that type of character — on the scooter with a boyfriend with a helmet racing through Paris,” he said. A series of embroidered silk gowns in mint, candy pink, apricot and lilac closed the proceedings with a glamorous flourish.

Galliano said he sought to create a “Left Bank, gamine, lovers-on-the-Pont Neuf” vibe, which he believes will resonate with women in both France and China. “I think our Parisian and Shanghai sisters — they both share the same love and passion, which is for tradition and innovation,” Galliano said. “They’re both so thirsty for new technology but still have a great respect for the tradition and I think that’s where I draw the parallels between the two women.”

Before the show, Christian Dior premiered its new advertising vehicle: a 12-minute film by David Lynch called “Lady Blue Shanghai,” which features Marion Cotillard and a mysterious Lady Dior handbag that prompts her to recall a dreamy, romantic tryst. Cotillard, clad in a pale yellow dress, also made an appearance at Saturday’s show, along with Dior’s other leading lady, Charlize Theron, and actress Maggie Cheung. Another front-row guest, R&B singer Kelis, performed to a packed after party, which saw both Galliano and Toledano dancing on the DJ’s platform.

The show and party attracted a diverse crowd including many fashion-forward Chinese, most of whom reacted positively to the show. “This is my first Dior show, because the shows have always been in Paris. I was very excited,” said Zhou Yingying, a 20-year-old from Shanghai. “I was surprised to see that the clothes were so suited to our age.”

Guan Anna, another 20-year-old from the city, was just as upbeat. “I love Dior because of Galliano,” she said. “He’s very ku [the Chinese slang word for cool].”

Holed up in the Park Hyatt hotel for fittings, Galliano said he hadn’t had time to visit the city this time. Dior transported about 150 people to Shanghai to produce the show, including his design team, makeup artist Pat McGrath, hair stylist Orlando Pita and models Kloss, Magdalena Frackowiak, Tanya Dziahileva and Anja Rubik.

And Dior & Co. may be gearing up for more road trips. “I think the cruise opportunity is fantastic to go to a new market. This year it’s in Shanghai. I’m sure next year it will be somewhere else,” Toledano said. But he stressed that these global ambitions — for both cruise and the rest of the business — don’t mean the house is forsaking the U.S. market. Dior has showed cruise in New York three times, and he said the market continues to be an important part of Dior’s business. To that end, the brand plans to refurbish and reopen its New York flagship later this year. Toledano said he hopes that will occur in November. “I’m sure we’ll have something special there,” he said.

In the meantime, Dior is dominating the scene at Plaza 66, where its ads are plastering the mall. A giant sculpture of a Lady Dior handbag in bars of lights sits outside the main entrance to greet shoppers, many of whom are in town for the World Expo. Inside, the retrospective exhibition chronicles Dior’s 64-year history, running from Christian Dior’s original New Look pieces to some of Galliano’s most outlandish couture creations, including a 2004 number made entirely from strips of gold metal. There are also plenty of high-tech touches, like a giant e-book with pages that can be flipped by hand.

Near the exhibit sits Dior’s newly refurbished 5,167-square-foot boutique. Designed by Peter Marino, the store features a curved staircase, French-style moldings and a wall of video screens displaying runway footage and other iconic images from the house’s history. It also houses a dedicated salon for fine jewelry and watches, which will be rolled out to other Dior boutiques. Marino, on hand in all his tattooed and leather-clad glory, said he was particularly proud of the store’s second-floor ceiling featuring porcelain lily-of-the-valley blossoms handcrafted by artist David Wiseman.

Galliano, for his part, said he had enjoyed some of Shanghai’s customs, especially those of the chakra-aligning persuasion. “The first thing I did here was have acupuncture,” he said. “I have to kind of contain [my energy] and give it to the girls on the day of the show.”

Christian Dior was born January 21, 1905, in Normandy, France. As far from fashion as one could imagine, Dior’s family made their money in the fertilizer industry. Obtaining his education from Ecole des Sciences Politiques for three years, from 1923 through 1926, Dior’s parents harbored hope he would become a diplomat. However, Dior knew from an early age this was not his calling.

Always drawn to the arts, in 1928 Dior left school to open an art gallery. He left with his father’s money but not his wholehearted blessing. Dior’s father allowed him the funds but explicitly forbade him using the family name in relation to the gallery.

Dior’s gallery, however, was not an amateur endeavor by any means. Rather, he displayed works by artists such as Max Jacob and Pablo Picasso. Eventually, Dior closed the gallery and began pursuing fashion in a more direct manner. He drew numerous sketches for couture houses, and worked with entrepreneur Marcel Boussac as well as Robert Piquet.

Boussac, who had already made a small fortune in fabrics, was particularly interested in Dior’s predilection for extravagant and often layered fabric. By 1947, Dior had finalized and premiered his first fashion collection. Just two years later, Christian Dior New York opened, and throughout his life remained the primary fashion house.

Dior’s new look focused on creating a curvaceous and beautiful silhouette for women, and it initially garnered flack for the amount of fabric it was wasting in a world rife with World War II rations. However, with the end of the war, the critics faded and the fans spoke up. Dior had revolutionized women’s fashion and almost single-handedly made Paris the fashion capital of the world, a trend and title that continues even today.

His couture houses were an immediate hit, receiving orders from Hollywood’s brightest such as Rita Hayworth. He even delivered a private screening of the newest collection to the British royal family, which at the time included King George V and princesses Elizabeth and Margaret (both of which were forbade to actually wear the clothing by their father).

Always with the company’s interests in mind, Dior knew he needed to diversify into other fashion arenas. To that end, he created a ready-to-wear fur line and a perfume called Miss Dior. Dior also insisted on the best assistants, including Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent who would go on to briefly head the company after Dior’s death.

During his life, Dior was inevitably drawn into the glamour and high life of Hollywood. It was no surprise then when Dior lent his designs to several films. He worked costume design for Ava Gardner in The Little Hut in 1957, Olivia de Havilland in Libel in 1959, Jean Simmons in The Grass is Greener in 1960, Ingrid Bergman in Goodbye Again in 1961, Sophia Loren in Ieri, Oggi, Domani in 1963, Julie Andrews in The Tamarind Seed in 1964, and many more.

On October 23, 1957, Dior choked and subsequently suffered a heart attack in Montecatini Terme, Pistoia, Italy, tragically ending his life.

The name Dior lives on, however. As much as when he was alive, it stands for the epitome of couture fashion and luxury.

Miss Dior by Christian Dior paved the way to lots of unique fragrances being well-known and ever-lasting though launched in the far 1947. Miss Dior was the fragrance to accompany the revolutionary pret-a-porte collection New Look. Two years later Christian Dior offered Christian Dior Diorama which is today valuable and appreciated by the vintage perfume collectors since it is rare.

Christian Dior Diorama is the fragrance by the trendy French brand created by Edmond Roudnitska, the true legend in the perfume industry. Edmond Roudnitska created a line of fabuluous fragrances for Dior House including Diorella, Diorissimo, Dior Eau Fraiche and Dior Eau Sauvage. The French brand adhered to the tradition to launch fragrances with the key word Dior in the name of perfume. And only in 1985 the tradition came to its end when the iconic perfume by Dior was offered. The Poison is the first fragrance Dior in its name. Christian Dior who presented when Christian Dior Diorama was launched committed a lot to creation of unique special bottles for his fragrances. The design as well as the content mattered. The original bottle by Christian Dior was thoroughly designed coming as the dark blue bottled perfume with the smooth elegant curves and absolute lavishness of the design.

Throughout several decades Edmond Roudnitska worked on building incredible formulation for Christian Dior fragrances, the classic scents created on traditional female notes of fruits and flowers. Christian Dior Diorama was not the exclusion, either, being specially feminine, romantic and elegant. The fragrant formulation of Christian Dior Diorama was built on the blend of the fruity and floral accords with the heart notes of juicy fruity notes of melon, peach and plum gorgeously mixed with the delicate floral bouquet of jasmine, rose and tuberose. The special spiciness of Christian Dior Diorama was expressed in the spicy provocative notes of pepper, clove, ginger and nutmeg slightly recognizable but being a stable part of the seducing scent.

The iconic perfumer created only masterpieces and this was not exclusion. People who were crazy about Christian Dior fragrances highly appreciated the new scent, as well as the peers in the perfume industry. So, one of the most recognized and reputed perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena who headed the Perfume Line Department for the French Hermes, was sure that no other fragrance could compete with Diorama in the complexity, delicacy and sensitiveness of the fragrant formulation.

Christian Dior Diorama was thrown in the lot with many other vintage fragrances which are undeservingly discontinued and forgotten, in spite of too high fame they won decades ago. Though, this could be beneficial for Christian Dior Diorama since the fragrances is still original and unique and no flankers with the blurred and vage scents were not launched for Diorama as it happens with most famous fragrances of the previous century.

Till lately the one who admire and worship only vintage fragrances were avoided to enjoy the famous scent by Christian Dior and this perfume was available only at special perfume boutiques in Paris and London or in the largest Dior boutique in Paris, in Montaigne Ave. However, the Dior House launched the specially interesting collection Les Creations de Monsieur Dior with the Diorama scent re-issued for the new world. The perfumers who updated the fragrance added something new and special to the composition getting it adopted to the new tendencies and requirements in the perfume industry. Launched in Autumn 2010 Les Creations de Monsieur Dior Diorama is the scent built on notes of ylang-ylang, bergamot, the floral accord of jasmine, rose, peach, plum and warm sweet notes of patchouli and cedar. Francois Demachy was invited to work directly with the formulation being the one to head the perfume division of the luxury holding LVMH, the owner of the Dior perfume line and author of many popular scents. Today Christian Dior Diorama, new version, offered as Eau de Toilette, is available in the largest perfume stores in Eusrope and USA, like in Saks Fifth Avenue in the US and Debenham’s and Harrod’s in the United Kingdom.