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Mon Dieu, Dior!

By Elsbeth van Paridon: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, December 17, 2012

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As far as we know, Tuesday, December 4, 2012, was not marked on the Mayan calendar but it would surely have been noted in many a man's diary - probably with a big red circle. The reason? It was the date for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in New York City, an event which Heidi Klum once called "the biggest fashion show on Earth." (Just for good measure, the show was taped late November and broadcasted on that fateful December Tuesday.)

Forty of the world's most in-demand models flaunted a spectacular array of crazy couture lingerie outfits, each of which took one year in the crafting, sometimes passing through ten pairs of hands to ensure that the tailoring, detailing and finishing matchup to Victoria's supreme standards - 'tis couture indeed. On the other side of the world, a legendary French couture designer was about to claim his place on Tiananmen Square: The "Esprit Dior" exhibition had finally made its way into China's National Museum. From Victoria's Angels to the Dior divine!

Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio in full bloom, working the circus on Victoria's catwalk. Copyright@Victoria's Secret.

Dior, the man

Dior walked the planet, and Paris' fashion scene, from 1905 to 1957. Together with his contemporaries Pierre Balmain, Coco Chanel and Maria (better known as Nina) Ricci, he gave women a new look: Pinched in wasp-style waists were achieved through the means of corsets (covering up slightly more than those on the Victoria runway) which allowed for the long skirts to flare out from the waist, creating a tiny hourglass figure draped in beautiful, and costly, fabric reminiscent of that used in the early 1900s.

The views this lover of women and gardens held towards women's dress design completely revolutionized the way women dressed. Especially in the years following World War II, women had shed the "shackles" of the traditional housewife concept and were now ready to lose both the wartime overalls and rationing mentality and for the first time in five years dress - and FEEL I imagine, yes, Shania - more like a woman again.

Dior's new invention of a brightly colored silhouette that reflected traditional femininity was first unveiled during a fashion rendezvous at his Paris studio in 1947, where he referred to the models as his "flower women." Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of American Harper's Bazaar at the time, was actually the one to dub Dior's collection the New Look. "Elegance is good taste plus a dash of daring," she used to exclaim and it was a maxim she lived by religiously.

I don't know if I would ever call Dior's designs "daring". Granted, considering the different times and circumstances, his achievement of turning around women's wear and making femininity blossom again was daring, both in terms of philosophy and the designs it spawned. But I think the Victoria's Secret team certainly did take Snow's maxim very much to heart. And maybe they added a little seductive Dior spirit to the brightly colored 2012 circus-themed show featuring the well shaped- and heeled- concept of womanliness, as their closing segment was entitled 'Models in Bloom.' Speaking of flower women…