Style File Friday: Christian Dior by Marie-France Pochna

Style File Friday is back again! (It is now the first Friday of each month.) With it being Women’s History Month (in Canada), I debated on who/ what I wanted to feature for this SFF. And I landed on this biography from one of the foremost experts on Christian Dior from Marie-France Pochna. She is an expert on Dior, is a professor, and a journalist, and is the perfect voice to highlight for WHM. (You can find the Style Histories of many female designers on the site, I will have them linked below, too.) Let’s get into Christian Dior by Marie-France Pochna!

***Christian Dior: The Man Who Made the World Look New*, Marie-France Pochna**

Christian Dior, the legendary French fashion designer, caused a worldwide sensation in 1947, in a Paris still groping to recover from the devastation of wartime occupation. This title recreates this one-of-a-kind world of glamour and luxury and situates Dior’s fairy-tale career in the tapestry of Paris cultural life.

Why You Should Read This…

As I shared above, Pochna is considered the expert on Dior. When we are looking at historical figures, more often than not, men are considered the experts. (One could make several educated guesses about how men have the time to become experts and why they are often considered authorities over women.) So, I will take any chance I can get to highlight an expert!

This is a thorough biography of Christian Dior that was written to coincide with a 1997 Dior exhibition at the Met celebrating the 50th anniversary of the house. It balances both Dior the man and designer and Dior the house, two separate entities that were still intertwined, and does so with elegance. It is a great companion book to Dior’s autobiography, Dior by Dior, as it provides outside opinions and memories to create a more complete story.

What I find particularly interesting about designers like Christian Dior is just how many women featured greatly in his life and career. Pochna handles their stories with care, like she does Dior’s, and shows just how important they were in his life. And while I think it is important to share their stories at any time, it seems even more fitting during Women’s History Month!