Christina Dior created his fashion house in 1946 after years of work and hundreds of sketches for myriad of other boutiques. The first collection, Spring – Summer 1947, was displayed on February 12, in the salons of 30 Avenue Montaigne.
The same year his first, and already legendary, fragrance, Miss Dior, was introduced to the public. Nowadays Miss Dior is still in vogue for its posh, flamboyant and unique features. Furthermore, this perfume has hid den depths…
What do you know about Christian Dior’s siblings? Have you ever heard of Catherine Dior? Catherine Dior was the youngest of five children in Dior’s family. Despite a twelve year gap, Christian and Catherine had an exceptionally tight bond.
In the late 1930s Catherine was living in the south of France, where she came across Hervé des Charbonneries, a passionate member of the French resistance. He made such a great impression on her that she joined the Resistance in 1941.
The French Resistance, considerably one of the most dynamic resistance networks in France, were fighting the Nazi occupation during the Second World War. The Internal Resistance focused on gathering intelligence on the armament and movements of the German military.
Her job at the Resistance was to collect and transmit information on the movements of German troops and ships, which required lengthy journeys by bicycle. That is how Catherine hid the compromising Gestapo material, and then passed it on to another member of the network.
words to learn:
fragrance (noun) - 1) a substance that people put on their bodies to make themselves smell nice; 2) a pleasant smell
posh (adj) - expensive and used or owned by rich people
flamboyant (adj) - can be used as a synonym to "extravagant"
However, on July 6, 1944, while her appointment with another member of the network at Place du Trocadéro in Paris, the Gestapo at Rue de la Pompe 11 arrested her. For several days, Catherine Dior was tortured. But she did not denounce any of her fellow resistance fighters. That is her words about that period:
On my arrival in the building, I was immediately subjected to an interrogation about my actions in the Resistance, and also about the identity of the leaders under whose orders I worked. This interrogation was accompanied by brutality: punches, kicks, scratches, etc. When the interrogation was not satisfactory, I was taken to the bathroom. I was undressed, my hands were tied, and I was plunged into the water where I remained for about three-quarters of an hour.
Right after that she was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women. The train that sent her to Germany on August 15, 1944 was one of the last to take deportees.
Liberated near Dresden in May 1945, Catherine Dior, weakened and emaciated, was repatriated to Paris It is deemed that Christian Dior had come to wait for her at the train station. His sister was so thin that it took some time before he recognised her.
Not long after Catherine and Christian were reunited, Christian Dior came up with the idea of launching a perfume that “smells like love” at the same time as a clothing collection. But there was the question - what name should the fragrance be given?
words to learn:
to denounce - to publicly accuse sb of smth
to subject somebody/something to sth (ph. verb) - to make sb/smth experience, suffer or be affected by smth, usually smth unpleasant
to interrogate - to ask sb numerous questions over a long period of time in an extremely aggressive way
concentration camp (noun) - a prison where large numbers of people are kept in very bad conditions (famous for Nazi capturing Jewish people there)
emaciated (adj) - incredibely thin and weak because of being sick or not eating enough food
to repatriate - to send sb back to their own country
to deem - to judge or consider smth in a particular way
And there is a widespread story that while Christian Dior was racking his brains, Catherine entered the room. The designer's assistant then said "Hey, there's Miss Dior!". Right after that Christian Dior exclaimed: "Miss Dior! Miss Dior! Here is my perfume!"
While many Christian Dior devotees may still not know Catherine’s name, the house of Dior has not forgotten the impact she had on him, as well as her love of flowers across the brand’s designs, campaigns, and runway shows.
Upon her brother’s untimely death in 1957 at the age of 52, she devoted herself to preserving his legacy, carefully cataloguing the contents of his home and serving as the honorary president of the Musée Christian Dior until her own passing in 2008, aged 90.
words to learn:
to rack one's brain - think extremely thoughtfully
tribute (noun) - an act, a statement or a gift that is intended to show your love or respect for sb ( especially on a formal occasion)
devotee (noun) - a person who admires and is very enthusiastic about sb/smth
runway show (noun) - shows that are created to specifically display fashion collections
untimely (adj) - happening too soon or sooner than is normal or expected
Perfume: The scent is created from notes of gardenia, galbanum and bergamot; carnation, iris, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, rose and narcissus – a fitting tribute to Catherine and Christian’s memories of a flower garden in Granville.
As Christian Dior, she inherited from her mother a passion for flowers and perfumes. Initially a flower dealer at the Paris market halls she ended her life in Provence, where she owned a farm of nearly two hectares of perfume roses and vines.
It is said that until the end of her life she had been wearing Miss Dior perfume. On her dressing table, there was always a bottle beside the Dior lipsticks.
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