The Christian Dior museum in Granville, hosts a special exhibition that represents the opportunity to see a unique journey through the savoir faire of the famous couturier through its collections. Thus, the exhibition ‘The Treasures of the Collection, 30 years of acquisitions’ represents a selection of 60 Haute Couture dresses, accessories, numerous archival documents, photographs and personal belongings that belonged to Christian Dior. These “treasures” allow us to discover and enjoy the entrepreneurial spirit of the couturier, his career as a creator and his visionary secrets.
The exhibition is located in Villa Les Rhumbs, in the emblematic pink and grey farmhouse where Christian Dior, that reserved and dreamer child, spent his childhood. A place of exuberant vegetation, away from the agitations of the city where the designer found in the English garden his main sources of stylistic inspiration that later, transmitted in the spirit of the Maison Dior. In 1987, the exhibition “Christian Dior, the other himself” organized at the Richard Anacréon Museum of Modern Art led to the creation of a Christian Dior fund. The idea of creating a museum in the house where the great fashion designer was born came true ten years later.
Among the items on display, some curious ones stand out such as a silver chest donated by the Emperor of Japan, or Christian Dior’s personal belongings of that were part of his routine such as his lucky star, his agenda, his watch and his scissors. The museum also features several dresses acquired or donated and restored that are exhibited for the first time to complete the museum’s collections. To close the exhibition, visitors can admire the miniature reproductions of 30 haute couture dresses, created especially for the occasion by the Maison Dior workshops.
This exhibition, curated by Brigitte Richart -conservative, general curator- , and by Gwénola Fouilleul – in charge of the collections – is also backed up with Florence Müller, scientific adviser, and Barbara Jeauffroy-Mairet , mission manager. The stage design has been commissioned by Alighieri Agency from Simon Jaffrot and Noémie Bourgeois. ‘The Treasures of the Collection, 30 years of acquisitions’ can be visited at the Christian Dior Museum until January 6th, 2019.
