Christian Dior creative director Jonathan Anderson visits Dior Heritage in Paris with Vogue to explore some of the house’s most cherished archive pieces. First up is the Bar jacket, the defining silhouette of Dior’s revolutionary 1947 New Look. Next is La Cigale, a sculptural 1952 dress and one of Anderson’s personal favorites. Its shape directly inspired his own Dior Cigale bag. He then turns to the Junon dress, Dior’s spectacular 1949 creation covered in layers of iridescent embroidery shaped like petals. The surviving piece is now so fragile it can only be displayed lying flat. Deeper in the archives, Jonathan finds the original charts for the Spring/Summer 1949 haute couture collection, a glimpse into how the house meticulously documented its work. Along the way, he also explores another side of Dior’s legacy, his often overlooked business savvy.
