Ahead of their show at the Paris Couture Week in January,a look at the journey of Christian Diors spectacular couture dresses at their flagship store in Paris In fashion,couture is the embodiment of our collective need to believe in magic. When Christian Dior decided to write his autobiography,Dior by Dior,over 50 years ago,long before the celebrity memoir became the thing to do,he wrote: Dress design is one of the last repositories of the marvellous,and the couturier is one of the last possessors of the wand of Cinderellas godmother. Twenty-four hours before the house of Diors couture show last month,it was the same desire to create magic that wafted through their 30,Avenue Montaigne store in Paris. This is where Dior himself launched his label in 1947 and showcased every collection till his death. This is where iconic creative heads after him from Yves Saint Laurent to Gianfranco Ferré to John Galliano made the most elaborate dresses known to the world. The salon,where the designers work with their teams,was being decorated for the next days two presentations. This is where Bill Gaytten,Gallianos first assistant for his entire career and now the design head,was busy charting out the runway and finalising the line-up of his dresses. On the fifth floor of this seven-storied mansion,two large rooms are dedicated to the atelier the workshop where the drawings meet silk and chiffon. The first is called the atelier flou,or flow. This is where gowns and dresses are made. The second is called atelier tailleur,where jackets,trousers and tailored items are made. There is a third room on the top floor,where ultra-elaborate couture items are created. Over 60 women and men toiled here,wearing lab coats and pin-cushions for bracelets,stitching on ruffles,restructuring pleats and sewing on the final touches. The model fittings had taken place the day before and the seamstresses were now opening up each item and perfecting it to the girls size and gait. A large ball gown was mounted on a mannequin pedestal,it had four women working on it at the same time. I think they will do the last dress tomorrow morning, said Camilla,from the Dior administration,who was taking me around. The room was as busy and as messy as any tailors workshop,reminding me that at the end of the day,even the finest and most expensive couture frock is just a humble work of hand. There were toiles everywhere,the muslin first-trys of each item of clothing. Snips of red,grey and purple chiffon and organza of the highest order lay on the floor. Some seamstresses had been here for over 25 years. The premier,the one in charge,was too busy for a chat as she oversaw each item. Pierre Cardin used to be Mr Diors premier,and was instrumental in creating the signature bar jacket with him. For their January shows,ideation started in September. Embroiders,Diors old favourites the houses of Lesage,Vermont and Jean Pierre Ollier were called in. One week later,they returned with their proposals. The fabric was then sent to them and the dresses took on life. Stitching the clothes begins five or six weeks before the main show,and continues till a few hours before. Everything in the world of couture is hand-done. As I walked by a line of mannequins,I realised each couture client had her own mannequin in her absolute size. A white strip of cloth with a name on it was stitched on to each bust. Hows that for privilege? The next day was the fashion show. Avenue Montaigne was chock-full with long black cars of every expensive model. Cameron Diaz was there,so was Bar Rafaeli. The svelte Natasha Poonawala in a peach Dior floor-sweeper,a fur throw and a diamond headband looked like she had walked out of a fairy tale. A gaggle of paparazzi went on an overdrive clicking their photographs: Parfait,parfait they hollered graciously. I walked up the salons statuary steps and took my seat in one of the many winding rooms. As usual,each seat had a silver card with the guests name calligraphed on it. This wasnt the awe-inducing Musée Rodin,but it was still very intimate. The show began,Lana Del Rey sang as an embroidered white coat appeared,then a black one,followed by a line of silk and chiffon cocktail dresses. Each dress was a love song to the houses beloved signatures. The idea for this show was to present an insight into couture. If fashion is an art,couture is its most elevated form. There were sheers galore,inverted seams and photographic opposites. Mostly,the hems ended at the knees,a few floor-lengths were marked with sexy see-through slits,and the occasional ball gowns brought on a dramatic denouement. The entire spring-summer line was technically superb,showing off the excellent handiwork of the craftsmen. Some of the ruffles were 10 inches wide,one black-white dress appeared to have its own scaffolding. An entire bar jacket was pieces of leather appliqué on fabric. It was hard to believe I saw most of these dresses in pieces only the day before. But its hard not to miss Galliano,whose genius vision and poetic fashion led Dior to the pinnacle,and who was removed after his very public drunken anti-Semitic rant last year,ahead of the Paris Fashion Week. The in-house team proved itself in technique but lacked thrill and fervour. Moreover,the cocktail length,gentle embroidery and controlled excess screamed commercial. The next morning,noted fashion critic Suzy Menkes would write: This show on the first day of the brief couture season was Dior Light. There was not much personality of charm,yet a careful rendition of the codes of the house. What is magic,after all,but a trick of the eye by an able magician?
