The Sans double-exposure print highlights the fine way the costume hangs and moves, the flow of the fabric and svelteness the coat lends Gala’s body. If we compare archive photos and its present state, we can see that Gala’s model was later modified, since the pockets of the bust, that overshadowed and gave volume to the bosom in a Trompe-l’œil effect, and the collar lapels were removed from the ensemble. The waist was also broadened with the
12 Ibidem. 13 Ibidem.
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Baptized Saint-Ouen, no doubt in reference to the Paris neighbourhood of that name, it is another example of what Dior wanted to express in his new collection: “The aim of the line […] is to bring to the silhouette the correctives necessary to release the entire value of the fabric, unleash the suppleness of the body and allow it complete freedom of movement” [CAT. 17].12 As shown in the model worn by Sylvie Hirsch and Hélène Korniloff in magazines and photos of the time, “the bust is filled out at the expense of a straightforward skirt with no obvious pockets”,13 heightening the roundness of the hips and accentuating and diminishing the waist [CAT. 18, CAT. 19].
In 1931 Paul Éluard had dedicated a poem to Gala in which he imagined her wearing a red coat and black stockings, in lines where the eroticisation bestowed on the colours and the subversion of images between the nude female body and the adorning dress reveal a desire to see the dreamt of body.14 Gala may also have been aware of the views of Dior himself, who in The Little Dictionary of Fashion refers to the importance of having a red coat as a must in the feminine wardrobe: “In winter, I think a red coat is very nice because it is such a warm-looking colour; and if most of your frocks and suits are in neutral shades a red coat will go very well with them.”15 The two Dior models in Gala’s wardrobe are part of the Trompe-l’œil haute couture exhibition inaugurated on 8 February 1949 in Paris with a conceptual focus inscribed in artistic terminology. Dior is mainly searching for the effect of illusion in his pieces through the texture of fabrics and defining presence of particular volumes and shapes. The use of an artistic term to denote his
14 “Woman with whom I have lived / Woman with whom I live / Woman with whom I shall live / Always the same / You need a red coat / Red gloves a red mask / And black stockings / Reasons proofs / To see you all naked / Pure nudity O adornment adorned / Breasts O my heart”. Translated from: Paul Éluard, Lettres à Gala, 1924-1948, op. cit., p. 137. The poem titled, Par une nuit nouvelle, is part of a letter that Éluard writes to Gala around February 1931. 15 Christian Dior, The Little Dictionary of Fashion: A Guide to Dress Sense for Every Woman, V&A Publishing, London, 2017, p. 96.
GALA WEARS DIOR
addition of a small black belt, so that the constraints on that part of the body and the volume given to the hips disappear.
to Dalí — in the intimate setting of their house in Portlligat in 1951 [CAT. 20].
collection is proof of the passion for the arts that marked his youth and guides his future professional career. The designer tries to ensure his creations emulate different artifices within artistic creation,16 an intention close to the concept Dalí had explored years earlier in his surrealist paintings through double images, the foundation of his paranoidcritical method. In the programme for the Trompel’œil collection reference is made to its two founding principles: “one, the various effects from pockets and low neck-lines that give the bust relief and substance while respecting the natural slope of the shoulders; the other, that grants the body its line and brings a necessary breadth and movement to the skirt.”17 Using artisanal techniques, Dior manufactures pieces that emphasize surface through the use of embroidery and lace, lapels and pockets, that serve to endow the bust and chest with more volume, reinforce the silhouette and achieve artistic effects in the various creations.18 These details that offer the gaze a premeditated illusion recall the ingenious, decorative and functional “pocket-drawers” that Elsa Schiaparelli, in collaboration with Salvador Dalí,19 had inserted in the creations presented at
16 Richard Martin, Harold Koda, Christian Dior, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 44. Available on line at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Christian_Dior [consulted: 13/01/2020]. 17 Spring-summer 1949 haute couture collection programme, Trompe-l’œil line, Collection Dior Héritage, París. 18 Richard Martin, Harold Koda, Christian Dior, op. cit., p. 43-44. 19 The artist had also collaborated with this designer on The Skeleton Dress in the Circus collection (1938), where bones become the ornamental feature via the illusion the use of fabrics creates. An example of this model is preserved in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.