“My brother loved designing costumes,” Catherine later told Dior biographer Marie-France Pochna, about these early years in Paris.
MISS DIOR PERFUME FREE
Christian used his connections to get his little sister a job selling gloves at a fashionable store, and in their free time Catherine served as a model for his first sewing projects.Ĭhristian Dior was 12 years older than his sister, but they were kindred spirits. A few months after the death of her mother from sepsis, an 18-year-old Catherine moved with Maurice and her former governess, Marthe, to a rundown farmhouse in a remote region of Provence until her older brother, Christian - who had started selling fashion illustrations - sent for her to come live with him in his Paris apartment.Ĭatherine was 12 years younger than Christian, but the two were kindred spirits. Yet by the time Catherine was a teen, their father Maurice, a fertilizer manufacturer who had made some bad real-estate investments, had fallen on hard times. Ginette Marie Catherine Dior was born in 1917, the youngest of five children of a prosperous Normandy family. “She didn’t want to be pitied,” one of her friends told author Justine Picardie. The Croix de Guerre she received for her bravery during the war praised her “great valour and admirable spirit.” She moved in with her married lover, started a cut-flower business and cultivated blooms for her brother’s perfumes until she died in 2008, at the age of 90. When she finally made it back to Paris - nearly a year after her capture - the 27-year-old was so emaciated that her brother didn’t even recognize her.Ĭatherine Dior preferred life in the garden to fashion shows.Įven more remarkable: Catherine ended up rebuilding her life. A member of the Resistance during World War II, Catherine was arrested by the Nazis, tortured and shipped off to various concentration camps before her liberation by Soviet soldiers. 9, reveals that the mysterious Catherine had quite a sensational life of her own. A discreet, independent woman, she was happier mucking about in her garden in casual pants and button-downs than attending fashion shows in glamorous gowns.īut a new book, “ Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), out Nov. Yet the real-life Miss Dior was no fashionista. That scent was the designer’s debut perfume, Miss Dior - named after his little sister, Catherine, sitting in the audience that day. And a 41-year-old designer named Christian Dior provided it, with his first fashion collection.Īs Dior’s elegant models strolled through his salon in extravagantly voluminous skirts and impossibly wasp-waisted jackets, they left a heady scent of rose and jasmine in their wake. In 1947, Paris was still struggling after World War II, and the city was starved for beauty. Watch security guard scare off armed robbers at Manhattan Dior store Harris Goes to Paris’ĭrive-by shooting injures NYPD worker’s boyfriend outside NYC Dior boutiqueĭior exhibit showcases dresses worn by Grace Kelly, Princess Di and more Inside the fabulous Dior couture world of ‘Mrs.
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