Shortly after Christian Dior premiered his spring/summer collection in 1947, the editor of Harper's Bazaar approached the designer, shocked, and said. "Why, Mr Dior, it's such a new look". The name stuck.A total of 29 Dior dresses, spanning 33 years, are on show in the V&A's esteemed textile and dress collection, an achieved challenged only by Yves Saint Laurent, who has 26. (Even Chanel, covering twice the number of years, only manages 14).
Having your dress displayed by the V&A is, of course, the equivalent of being inducted into the fashion hall of fame. "The piece must be virtuosic - made to the highest standards of design quality, and show an exceptional degree of craftsmanship," says Eleri Lynn, a curator at the museum. Among the more famous pieces to be immortalised by the V&A are Yves Saint Laurent's black trouser suit - "Le Smoking" - from 1966 and all nine inches of Vivienne Westwood's "Super-elevated Ghillie" platform heels, which were too high even for Naomi Campbell: she tottered and fell while wearing them on the catwalk in 1993.
Source: The Times Magazine
