Explore the magical and mystical world of Dior in this riveting retrospective made available virtually for you to enjoy from the safety of your homes.
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There I stood at the awning of the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition, which then had just moved at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London late last year. It was sold out online, even the extended screenings, but perhaps I thought, maybe a miracle would happen when I get there, as I had already intended to make a trip to the busy museum at Cromwell Road anyway. Well, unfortunately, this isn’t a story with a silver lining just yet, but as the immaculate nave-like entrance greeted me, a harsh reality came in the form of the sign that read just as I feared: sold out.
From my distance, I craned my neck as much as humanly possible to see whatever I could from my glance. It wasn’t much to assuage my dashed dreams of witnessing the incomparable imagination of Christian Dior, but even with just the shaft of wind that tunneled through to my spot, it already felt electric.
While it wasn’t in the cards for me then, the hallowed heritage of Dior had other plans, one that was perhaps expedited by the exacerbating of a global pandemic. As aggravating as the reality of our life now is, the brand is opening its doors to invite you to lie out the enthralling exposition of fashion through the years, all from the comfort of your home. It might not be much for some, or even perhaps lensed as frivolous by others, but for even just a bit of escapism and wonder in these truly testing and trying times, a trip past the emblematic façade of 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris is the respite we need to fan the flames of our culturally-deprived hearts.
Reimagined as the “refuge of the marvelous,” as Monsieur Dior famously notes of haute couture, the Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition, held at Musée des Arts Décoratifs is now made available online and on social media. This exploration of fashion history is manifested in a virtual tour, as their Instagram page supplements the documentary released on YouTube, which details the captivating journey of the effusive undertaking from conception, archiving, restoration, curation, ingress, and finally, the exhibition. Chronicling over 70 years of perpetuating and persistence of passion from Dior himself to Creative Directors hand-picked to endure the legacy of the brand, such as Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Florence Müller and Olivier Gabet orchestrated effort rediscovers the reignites the profound grace of iconic haute couture.
Manifested in legendary dresses, precious unseen photographs, stunning sketches, original paintings by great masters, magnificent accessories, the wealth of works woven in the continuing narrative of the house of Dior is a veritable trove of treasures that is curiously conceived in a stunning and sweeping display of color, fabric, and distinct points-of-view that span specific senses of movement through the years. As fantastic and fancy as it may appear, this virtual retrospective couldn’t have come at a better time, especially since Dior is a brand that has stood and survived the test of time, including unrests and wars.
“Women, with their intuitive instinct, understood that I dream not only of making them more beautiful, but happier, too,” says Christian Dior in legacy-bound words, which is now realized in his dreams turned truth. It may not be as life-changing as an incandescent walk through in real life, but this virtual tour is equally exhilarating nonetheless, digging deeper behind and beyond the seams, all for us to experience and enjoy, until it is all safe to see the real world of dreams outside our homes in the future.
The Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition can be enjoyed on YouTube and on Instagram.
