Hello everyone, I’m Oriole Cullen, and I’m the curator
of Christian Dior Designer of Dreams in Shanghai.
The exhibition is very much based on the previous iterations,
but we’ve looked at Shanghai
and how we would bring it to a new audience there.
I worked with Nathalie Crinière, we had a number of meetings
and we looked at her amazing designs for the space
and then discussed how we would configure
the objects in these galleries.
This exhibition will take place at the Long Museum.
It's a space with very high ceilings and multiple connected naves.
We're going to play with this architecture.
The Long Museum has been transformed
into a brand new narrative setting for this occasion,
in a tribute to the passion for art
upheld by Christian Dior for more than 70 years.
For all of the Dior exhibitions, Dior has a team of specialists
to look at mounting, installation and unpacking the dresses
so it was really disappointing that we couldn’t travel to Shanghai.
However, the team made specific instruction films
and there’s a wonderful team in Shanghai who have been able to look
at these videos and use them as instructions to install the show.
A relationship built on trust grew progressively.
To follow the construction works we could ask them for details and pictures.
Today's technology, those cameras monitoring each room,
all of it helped us tremendously.
So the exhibition starts off
with an iteration of the façade of 30 Avenue Montaigne,
which is the home of Dior in Paris.
Christian Dior originally wanted to be an architect,
and he spoke about his clothes as ephemeral architecture.
He was really excited to work with his friend,
interior decorator Victor Grandpierre
on designing the house and the interiors,
and to make it really very much the home of Christian Dior.
As you’ll see on the left-hand side,
for Autumn/Winter 2019 Haute Couture,
Maria Grazia Chiuri has reimagined this house in the form of garment.
Working with artist Penny Slinger,
they have created a 3-D printed golden version
which was worn by Mona Tougaard
on the catwalk as a finale piece.
This first room celebrates the “New Look” —
Christian Dior’s sensational first collection
which was shown on the 12th of February 1947.
As you’ll see it moves back in time,
starting with variations by Maria Grazia Chiuri,
the most recent incarnation of the famous “New Look.”
This is inspired by the bar suit
which was one of the key pieces from that show.
And as you’ll see, throughout the room,
different creative directors at the House of Dior
have recreated this look over 70 years
for various different generations.
This room looks at the life of the founder of the House himself, Christian Dior,
so we can see information about his childhood home
in Granville, in Normandy, in Northern France
and his family.
We also look at his early career as an art gallerist
and the artists that he worked with.
Then, we examine his time
moving from being an art gallerist into fashion
where he became an illustrator and designer.
We also look at his fascination and interest
in fortune telling and superstition.
Then, we come to the launch of the House of Dior,
and, finally, the global success of the brand.
All of these featurings showcase documents and photographs from his life,
alongside dresses which match with the themes of the cases.
Christian Dior loved flowers and gardens.
He had a number of beautiful gardens throughout his life,
and he was very inspired to design outside amongst nature.
As you’ll see, the flower is very thematic throughout his designs.
In this room is a celebration of those flowers and motifs.
In the first plinth, we see dresses which are all inspired by chiné fabric,
very popularly used by Dior and his successors.
This fabric is special because the floral print
is printed onto the warp fabrics before being woven.
On the staircase at the back, you will see very grand ballgowns,
which were inspired by the floral theme.
At the bottom of the staircase there is a dress
from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first Haute Couture collection
which encases flattened silk flowers in between layers of tulle
as they are found in the leaves of a herbarium book.
For Christian Dior, perfume was just as important as clothing
and he founded his perfume brand
with his childhood friend Serge Heftler-Louiche in 1947
along with the founding of the House.
His first perfume, Miss Dior,
was called after his beloved sister Catherine
who was a war hero, who later worked in flower growing
and supplied flowers for the perfume industry.
In the centre of the room you will see three dresses.
The first by Christian Dior is named Miss Dior
after both the perfume and his sister.
It is covered in tiny silk flowers
which evoke the ingredients of the Miss Dior perfume.
Alongside that are two dresses which interpret this theme
by Raf Simmons and Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The Dior atelier celebrates the fine art of Haute Couture,
and all of the artisans and skilled people
who work behind the scenes to create these toiles.
Toiles are prototypes for garments.
So, the designer will hand over sketches to the ateliers
and then they will create these wonderful three-dimensional garments
in this white fabric.
There are 15 examples shown here on this wall.
The gallery is inspired by a fountain at Versailles.
Christian Dior was a great fan of the 18th century,
he was inspired by the design and art from that period.
His Haute Couture has very much evoked
the 18th century in its interiors.
The dresses in this room, both by Christian Dior
and subsequent designers
feature emblems from that period such as paniers,
figured silk and specific embroideries which all evoke the 18th century.
This room features a focus on the six subsequent creative directors
who followed Christian Dior at his House.
Each of the directors is portrayed in a newly commissioned portrait
by the Chinese artist Yan Pei Ming.
The title of this group of paintings is Après Christian Dior.
They carried on the history of Christian Dior,
his name, his philosophy, and his spirit.
They passed on the heritage.
Arranged in sequence,
from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, up until 2000 and the present day,
the concept of time is released.
This is about succession.
There are different eras, and there are different, great designers.
These portraits are positioned behind dresses by each particular designer.
In the first room we have Yves Saint Laurent,
and then we move into a larger gallery that showcases the work of Marc Bohan,
Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simmons and Maria Grazia Chiuri.
The selection of dresses gives a flavour of how each designer
approached their tenure at the House of Dior.
This room looks at how travel
and different cultures from around the world
have inspired designers at the House of Dior.
On the plinth we see a number of countries
that have provided inspiration:
Egypt, Mexico, Spain,
Kenya and China.
When you enter this gallery, the first thing that you see
is a section devoted to Dior in China
and this shows how the rich cultural history of China
has really inspired seven decades of designers at the House of Dior.
From different sartorial silhouettes, to exquisite textiles,
this is a rich evocation of the inspiration that China has provided.
We then move on to a further section that looks at various different countries
such as Egypt, Spain, Mexico,
India, Great Britain and Kenya,
all providing inspiration for different designers at the House.
This white dress with black embroidery
was from Maria Grazia’s 2019 Cruise collection,
which was inspired by Mexican escaramuza horse women.
This room is a celebration of the breadth of design at the House of Dior,
so from shoes to hats to handbags,
it celebrates all of the products that Dior envisaged
when he first established his House.
It also looks at the make-up and the importance of that to the House,
and celebrates the work of make-up artists Serge Lutens,
Tian and Peter Phillips today.
There are over 800 objects on display in this room,
all organised by colour.
And Christian Dior felt colour was particularly key to his work.
He talked of red as the colour of life.
The final space of the exhibition is the ballroom,
and it showcases spectacular eveningwear.
This entire room is bathed in a dramatic ceiling projection
which evokes light, stars and clouds at different times of the day.
Christian Dior himself always spoke of the evening as a time of escape,
when people could leave their real life behind,
and certainly in these fabulous dresses, it wouldn't be impossible.
Christian Dior was always very aware of the power of celebrity,
and from early on he dressed film stars.
As you can see today this tradition continues,
and there is a wonderful selection of dresses
that have been worn on the red carpets
by actresses and film stars from across the world.
The plinth features a bias-cut navy-blue dress
designed by John Galliano which was worn by Princess Diana.
It was the first gown which Galliano designed at the House of Dior,
and Princess Diana wore it to the Met ball.
She also carried a small version of the Lady Dior handbag
which had been named after her.
At the very front of the plinth you will see a spectacular blue dress
which was worn by Zhang Ziyi in 2008.
There is also a collection of dresses worn by Chinese stars
such as Angelababy,
Yang Zishan, Wang Likun,
Zhao Tao, Jing Tian,
Huang Xiangli and Zhou Yun.
The final section in the room celebrates J’Adore perfume
with a wonderful selection of golden dresses
and a newly commissioned artwork by the artist Gao Weigang.
The piece I designed for this Dior exhibition is called “Her”.
Borrowing from the basic shape of the perfume “J'adore”,
it is a balanced, stable tower structure
with a lunar sphere that draws the eye to the top.
I hope it is able to evoke the form of a woman with mysterious
and elegant qualities.
The golden part is mirror-polished stainless steel.
It went through cutting, folding, welding, polishing,
titanium plating and other processes
to achieve this glistening gold result.
At the top is a lunar sphere in glass blown using a casting technique.
The upper and lower halves were joined together at the end
using an interlacing technique.
At this Dior exhibition,
there will be many classic, historic garments on display.
I hope that my piece, through its distinctive,
mirror-like reflective qualities,
will add some intricate spacial structure to the overall exhibition space.
It’s been really exciting to be able to include
quite a number of dresses that have never been displayed before,
so really they’re being shown to the public for the first time,
and really evoke the spirit of Dior.
The whole exhibition has a feeling of heritage and transmission.
It talks about the designer's childhood experiences.
I feel that art and creativity are sometimes both closely related
to our experiences growing up as children.
Next to me are New Look pieces designed by Dior's designers.
You can see everyone's different design styles.
There is an antique dress from 1947.
It is from after the Second World War.
Christian Dior conceived it to awaken women's self-confidence and beauty.
It became a timeless classic.
When I first entered this room, I was struck by how beautiful it was.
I really wanted to try everything on.
The whole Miss Dior series has a fairy-like beauty.
There are many floral elements.
I like it very much. It's very beautiful.
Many of the dresses are very beautiful, especially one from 1949
I just saw in the display with roses crafted on using embroidery.
There are floral elements everywhere.
You feel very at ease here,
and can learn to understand the clothes in new ways.
When I look at this wall, I can feel the spirit of ingenuity.
There is a big green dress that I especially like,
I think it is very regal, very retro.
In the section about Dior on the world stage,
I think the exhibition evokes the styles and traditional cultures
of different peoples all over the world.
In the Diorama section of the exhibition, I saw many mini dresses,
which I thought were really exquisite.
Each piece of clothing is like a work of art.
What remains unchanged is what they demand in terms of tailoring
and the level of craftsmanship.
Walking into this museum is like walking into a time-space tunnel,
like a dream created by so many interesting souls,
where you can find things you like in other people's dreams.