Christian Dior
What failed
The art business, twice. In 1931 his mother died, his brother was institutionalised and his father was ruined, and with no family money the first gallery closed; the second ran out of money two years later. Then tuberculosis, then a year with no address.
What happened next
He learned to draw dresses at thirty and sold sketches to whoever would buy them, designed under Robert Piguet from 1938 and, after the army, under Lucien Lelong from 1941 to 1946, and opened his own house at forty-one.
The point
He had no ambition to be a couturier. Sketching was what he could sell when nothing else was left, and the famous career is what the failures pushed him into rather than what he was aiming at.
The sequence
4 documented failures, shown with the successes in between. Every entry carries its own source — the wins are part of the record, and leaving them out is how these stories get distorted.
- 1926
Drops out of the diplomatic career his father chose for him.
- 1931
His brother is institutionalised, his mother dies, and his father is ruined.
- 1933
The second gallery closes for lack of money.
- 1934-1935
Tuberculosis, then a year in Paris with no income and no place to live.
- 1935
He starts selling dress sketches to milliners and couture houses.
- 1947
The first collection is shown on 12 February. He is forty-two.
Sources
- Dior, Christian (Encyclopedia.com / Gale)
The following year he found himself in Paris with no income and no place to live.
- History (La Galerie Dior)
your dresses have such a New Look!
- Christian Dior (Wikipedia)
During the Depression, Dior's father lost his business; with no funding, the gallery closed in 1931.
- History (La Galerie Dior)
In 1938, Piguet asked me to go and work for him as a house designer.
- Christian Dior (Wikipedia)
With the outbreak of the war in 1939, Dior left Piguet to complete his compulsory military service, spending two years in the army's 47th Infantry Division.
- History (La Galerie Dior)
Christian Dior is employed by the house of Lucien Lelong as a designer.
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