Dior and I - Film Review

I've always wondered what is like inside a couture fashion house or what it would be like to work in one, there's so many questions I have unanswered like; is it really all handmade? How many people does it take to complete one dress? And how long does it take? The film 'Dior and I' gives you that insight to Christian Dior’s fashion house and how a collection is put together in such short time, with such a demand. You follow the designer Raf Simons who takes over as the creative director at Dior. His work is very minimalist so going into couture let's his audience see that he doesn’t just work in this way! Dior came into his element in the 50s with a post war New Look which changed the way women dressed. The garments became very feminine and reflected the stereotypical shape of a woman with a small waist and hour glass figure. Dior creates his brand to dress women and make them feel sophisticated, dainty, elegant and more confident.

The brand has a very distinctive look which is so well known and since Christian Dior passed just 10 years after creating the house, other designers have taken the role as art director but still have kept the iconic design of the original garments but modernized them to the time they were working there. Simons states that though he is the head of designs he still feels like he is working for Christian Dior and the 'Name' of the brand rests on him. You see him look back though previous designs and the first originals to gain inspiration of the shape and the cuts of the garments, he adapts them to make them modern with his own twist but still very much Dior. 

His own twist is where the inspiration comes from for his collection. The painter Sterling Ruby is where is gets the inspiration from for the print and the way Dior used to print the fabric. Instead of printing onto the fabric they print onto the threads so that when it is weave the design looks warped and like brush strokes which is what the artists work is like. Doing research on the designer you are working for is key, so Simons learns that Dior loved flowers and grew up loving them so for they runway he covers the walls in each room a different flower, which just looked breath taking and even gave me goose bumps when I saw it! It was a celebration of Dior and femininity, it represented beauty and elegance, it was all said through these flowers. Simons said that they are a metaphor for the collection.   

The film has some vintage clips of Mr Dior and the fashion house as well as his own voice over’s which shows how he feels about himself, the brand and his clients. The way that the house works is very much the same as when it started and is one of a few which runs in the traditional way. This is with the premiers (seamstresses) which work in the ateliers (workshops) Simons knows that he has to work and have a close relationship with these people because they can make or break his career as they are the ones who make the garments. From doing a fashion and clothing course in college I know the amount of work there is to making a collection from start to finish and what it entails, so it’s easy for me to relate to how Simons feelings and how stressed and agitated he gets. You see the amount of pressure that is on him considering it’s his first ever couture collection and first for Dior. 

The creator of this film was Frederic Tcheng and after researching on him and the way he made the film, I found out that the ‘I’ in ‘Dior and I’ references to Christian Dior’s divided self. I really like the way the movie was made and how it’s like the camera men are not even there as the surroundings stay natural so you get the feel of what it’s really like and it’s not fake. Tcheng makes it so you see the real feeling of having such a responsibility on your shoulders and you really connect with Simons and feel for him. Especially in the last few clips when he breaks down in tears seeing everyone turn up and hope that they all like his collection. These clips show how all the hard work comes together in such a success and you even have a sigh of relief to yourself in your chair because you become wanting it to be a success. Many of the workers say that when they give the dresses over to put on the models it’s ‘like letting go of your baby’. Overall I really liked the concept of this film and how it gives you a better understanding of how the most glamorous fashion house runs over 8 weeks.

 

If I was able to create a fashion campaign for the collection Simons created I would have it set in a garden much like Christian Dior’s one you see in the film. It would be very feminine with soft pastel colours to compliment the brands image. I would take the inspiration from what Simons did with the house for the fashion show with the flowers and create columns or arch ways made with flowers that would match or contrast in a nice way to the garment the model is wearing. Much like the advert Dior did with Natalie Portman for the Miss Dior perfume. It could also be done in the style of Tim Walker whose style is very feminine and narrative, telling a story like a book, the models could be telling a story though out the flower gardens?

 This post is a bit different from what i normally do but for Uni we saw this film and had to create a reaction to it so I thought I'd do a blog post sharing my thoughts and if you guys love fashion and fashion documentary's you need to check this out! 

Emma

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