Dior’s Successor Chosen To Initiate New Designs

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28447, 29 November 1957, Page 2

Dior’s Successor Chosen To Initiate New Designs

Yves-Matthieu St. Laurent, who has been chosen to spark creative design in the Maison Christian Dior, is one of a team of four to head the firm, writes Kathleen Cannel! in “The Christian Science Monitor.”

Still in his early 20's. Mr St. Laurent has been with the firm since he was 18. The late Christian Dior often referred to him as ‘‘my Dauphin.” Ha has designed for the boutique and some of his specially successful models have even been included in Dior’s big openings. Yves-Matthieu St. Laurent helped Dior to prepare his last collection in the great designer’s Riviera hideaway. Dior had already selected some materials and made some sketches for next spring and summer that will serve as directives for the new line. Close Association

Mr St. Laurent will also be ably assisted by the expert team of Dior’s personal collaborators, who have worked closely with him since he went into business for himself. Madam Raymonde. Dior’s assistant, often referred to as “my second self.’’ Madam

Bricard valued style consultant, and Madam Marguerite, head of the workrooms—“ Dame Couture ip person.” This experienced team will continue to guide the workers in the high standards of craftsmanship insisted on by Dior. Mr St. Laurent’s technique is one of the most precious legacies left to the couture by the great designer. His dresses, he said, must be “constructed like buildings,” they must be able to stand alone, and be perfectly finished inside and out * The tradition of a Paris couture house, which depends largely on the technique of the Workers, is very tenacious. It can keep on going for years by its own momentum.

But if it is to remain in the lead, it must be sparked by new ideas.

Christian Dior will be a hard figure to replace in our time. He possessed all the qualifications that combine to make a couturier great. He could design, sketch, drape, cut and execute a toile (the muslin pattern of the model) himself. He had well-nigh perfect taste, was a consummate colourist and understood the “behaviour” of materials. Architecture was his hobby and he visualised the ideal settings to show off his own fashions. He personal! v passed every detail of his collections. He established himself the price at which each model must be sold. Besides this. Christian Dior was probably the most beloved of all Paris couturiers. Kind as he was gifted, this retiring “country gentleman” expressed to a remarkable degree the quality of sympathy. He was vitally concerned with the well-being of his employees, established a canteen with prices scaled to salaries, and a complete social security setup on the premises, and set aside one of-his handsome country estates as a rest home for the feminine personnel.

Christian Dior’s success story was perhaps the most phenomenal of fashion dreams come true. His aim was to have a small “craftsman’s workshop” where he would cater to a tiny elite of discriminating women. But the triumph of his “New Look” in 1947 pushed him into big business. The Maison Dior now shelters six enterprises and 1200 workers under one roof. With main branches in New York. London and Caracas, eight independent firms and 16 allied subsidaries spread the Dior label over five continents.

One reason for Dior’s supremacy was that his point of view was universal. He said: “There is no such thing as one new line. The apparently prevailing trend is the choice of clients and journalists.” He launched each season from five to seven basic motifs. Besides that he tried to design dresses for all types of women in the dozen countries where his selected mannequins put on fashion shows once or twice yearly.

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