Limelight: An age of elegance By Lubna Abdel-Aziz The French call him "Homme du Siècle" (Man of the Century), a well- deserved title for a historic figure whose enduring influence and unique contribution extends well beyond his native borders. To celebrate the 100th birthday of the legendary French Couturier , his countrymen are in an exceptional state of jubilation. The festivities started last week in Granville, Normandy and will continue for the rest of the year. Nobility found a new meaning in France with the birth of ; not in titles and wealth, but in the moulding of a sense of refinement and taste that permanently and decisively changed forever the direction of fashion and couture. After many years of war and deprivation, Dior launched his "New Look" in Paris, on 12 February 1947, which turned the world of couture upside down, the world of women downside up. Out went the drab and masculine boxy jackets and short narrow skirts, in came the swinging billowy skirts with long wide luxurious hemlines, full-bosomed tops, soft shoulders and cinched waists, excesses so unfamiliar that positively blew their minds. The applause started instantaneously and kept going on non-stop until the finale. Such opulence, such femininity, such provocative voluptuousness -- a sleepy world was thoroughly aroused from its languid torpor. What courage! What art! What genius! This was nothing less than a revolution, led by a small, portly, 42-year-old, who seemed shy, confused and quite unaware of the tempest he had caused, unequalled in the history of dressmaking. He was described as "a Napoleon, an Alexander the Great, a Caesar of couture!" Carmel Snow of Harper's Bazaar, who was responsible for coining the word "New Look" when she said: "Dior, this is a totally new look", declared "Dior saved Paris as Paris was saved in the Battle of the Marne." lightened France's burden and purified her taste. His 'sweet smell of success' maintained its fragrance and wonderment, season after season. The demand kept rising, the clientèle kept clamouring for more, the brand name kept growing, spreading throughout Europe, America and the world. Boutiques opened everywhere. His perfume Miss Dior became one of the best-selling fragrances in the world. His winter collections in August 1947, featured skirts that measured as much as 40 yards in circumference, and all the wise and foolish rushed in for a little or a lot of Dior. The Dior craze had no end. By 1949, 75 per cent of all French fashion exports were Dior products, which amounted to five per cent of the total volume of French export sales. This miracle of creativity lasted barely a decade. The much revered designer's short career suddenly ended when he died of a heart attack in Montecatini in August 1957. He was only 52. The legend was born at Angers in the Loire Valley on 21 January 1905 in the north coast of Normandy. The second of five children of Madeleine and Alexandre Louis Maurice Dior, Christian was a shy, docile, delicately featured child, more interested in helping his mother in the house and garden than playing with his siblings. In 1910 they moved to a lavish Paris apartment, and even when he was only six, his mother started to heed his advice in creating elegant surroundings at their apartment as well as at their lofty holiday home on the coast in Granville, which became their haven during the war years of 1914. After the war the family returned to Paris. To the boy of 13 it was nothing less than a magical wonderland. He spent his teen years roaming the Parisian busy streets, art galleries, bars and cafés. He frequented painters and writers, befriended Picasso and Cocteau. Following his baccalauréat he had a burning desire to join the Academy of Fine Arts, but to the affluent bourgeois family the only choice was the Faculty of Political Science. After four wasted years of "sciences politiques", his mother realised her son would never become ambassador. She helped him and friend Jacques Bonjean open their own art gallery on condition that he would never associate the name Dior with the business. The gallery did well for a few years but in 1930 tragedy struck the Dior Madeleine whom Christian adored, died following surgery at age 51, and his own gallery closed down ruined by the crash. It finally dawned upon him that he wanted to be a couturier. Paris on the eve of WWII, was a city of excesses, frivolity and endless parties. Suddenly everything changed in 1939. Christian enlisted in the Second Reserve and was assigned to help on a farm, but continued to make sketches for top couturiers like Hermés and Chanel. Paris couture was going through a particularly difficult time under German occupation which was determined to close down the industry, but the French continued to create despite all the restrictions, and so did Dior. After the war he joined the couture house of Lucien Lelong, but not for long. Marcel Boussac, a textile manufacturer -- "King of Cotton" -- was seeking a designer to revitalise the ailing couture house "Philipe et Gaston" which he owned. He approached Dior, but Dior, who was now almost 40, was only interested in leading his own fashion house. Boussac accepted and ' Limited' was born. The House of Dior's first fairy tale collection was a staggering success and so was each consécutive collection. The clientele was exclusive, glamorous and affluent. The world's beautiful people rushed to his salon from Queen Elizabeth to Rita Hayworth, from Princess Margaret to Marlene Dietrich; only Dior would do. He followed the New Look with the Zigzag, the Vertical, the Oval, the Tulip, the Oblique, the Ballerina, Scissors, the H line, the A line, the Y line, and all came running. Dior was monarch of the decade. His court was filled with beautiful ladies, blooming flowers, and numerous assistants who helped him preserve his solitude amidst the crowds. Partly because of obsessive perfectionism, partly because of a weak heart his health was failing, and by the mid-1950s he was showing signs of stress. During a holiday at his favourite spa in Montecatini, Italy, Dior succumbed to another heart attack. It was said that "the press covered Dior as if he were a war". It is little wonder then that France in general and Normandy in particular are celebrating in grand style the centennial of his birthday. Dior's Centenary Fête started last week with the exhibition "Dior, homme du siècle" and will be showcased at Dior's childhood home-turned-museum in Granville from 15 May to 25 September. Among many commemorative events Granville's Musée d'Art Moderne offers an exhibit of his early designs/outfits borrowed from other museums, and his connections with the world of avant-garde arts, cinema and entertainment. The reign of the monarch may have been short but within his reign he created a style that is immortal. Maison Dior is still a paragon of refined taste. His young assistant Yves Saint Laurent was named successor after his death, followed by Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, and now John Galliano is chief designer. Surveys show that "Dior" is the most widely recognised brand in top fashion today. In death as in life, the press, the media, the world of beauty, art, taste, and refinement honour this painfully shy withdrawn, portly and baldish virtuoso, who carried a memorable aura of selfless modesty. "The King" was known to "step aside with a small bow to allow the lowliest apprentice to enter the elevator before him". helped heal the scars of a ravaging World War, and will continue to refine and polish the rude and rough edges of an often crude and graceless culture en déshabille. Dior is not dead. At age 100 he is deliciously and unmistakably alive. Women are most fascinating between the ages of 35 and 40... since few women pass 40, maximum fascination can continue indefinitely
