21st January: Christian Dior

10 facts about Christian Dior, born on this date in 1905.

1. Christian Dior was born in Granville, a seaside town on the coast of Normandy, France. He was the son of a wealthy fertilizer manufacturer and had four siblings.
2. His parents wanted him to become a diplomat, but young Christian wanted to do something with art.
3. He started out by selling his fashion sketches outside his house, charging 10 cents each for them. When he left school, his father gave him the money to set up a small art gallery, as long as the family name did not appear on the door. Dior and a friend ran the gallery, selling works by well known artists like Picasso, until the family fortune ran out and they had to close it.
4. Dior worked for several other designers such as Robert Piguet, for whom Dior designed three collections. A day dress with a short, full skirt called "Cafe Anglais", was one of the best received.
5. During World War II Dior worked for Lelong, a fashion house with a mission to preserve the fashion industry through the war. Dior was designing dresses for the wives of Nazi officers. Ironically, Dior's sister Catherine, was fighting in the French Resistance at the time.
6. Dior was 42 when he produced his first collection under his own name. The collection was called Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English), but the name that stuck was New Look, coined for it by Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar.
7. His designs weren't well received at first. In times of post-war austerity, Dior was heavily criticised for the amount of fabric his designs used, and women, used to showing more of their legs when fabric was scarce, didn't like their assets being hidden by swathes of fabric.
8. Dior would always include, in each of his collections, a garment called Granville, after his home town and at least one model had to carry a bunch of white lilies, his favourite flower. Sometimes, for luck, he would sow Lily of the valley flowers into the hems of the dresses.
9. Christian Dior was the first designer to lend his name to a range of accessories to go with his line of clothing. Critics at the time thought he was cheapening the haute couture industry.
10. Dior's solo career as a designer lasted just ten years - he died of a heart attack at the age of 52. What caused the heart attack, however, has been subject to rumour and speculation. Some said it was caused by choking on a fish bone, others said it was brought on by a game of cards, and there was a rumour that it was caused by a "strenuous sexual encounter".

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