THE HAGUE.- Marlene Dietrich demanded to be dressed by Christian Dior for several of the films in which she starred. Princess Diana made a stunning impression in 1996 with a daring outfit dreamed up by John Galliano. Nicole Kidman radiated elegance on the red carpet in a beautiful evening gown by Raf Simons. Princess Grace of Monaco, who shot to fame as film star Grace Kelly, loved to wear the youthful designs that Marc Bohan created for Dior. Natalie Portman shone in a dress conceived by Maria Grazia Chiuri. Some of the models worn by these and other celebrities and others will be featured in the exhibition DIOR – A New Look at Kunstmuseum Den Haag this autumn.

Christian Dior enjoyed unprecedented success. Within a few years of his debut in 1947, his couture house had become famous all over the world: by 1952, fifty per cent of French couture exports were Dior designs. He was not only an innovative designer – a ‘designer of dreams’ – but also an astute businessman. He had an excellent eye for publicity and marketing and presented shows around the globe with his star models. In ten years, until his unexpected death in 1957, he built a fashion empire that included haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, accessories and perfumes. His successors Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri have each left their personal mark on the House, but they all built upon the strong foundation laid by Christian Dior in that first decade.

Dior – which in French sounds like a contraction of ‘Dieu’ (God) and ‘or’ (gold) – is synonymous with French style. When describing his loyal friend Christian Dior, Jean Cocteau said he was “a nimble genius in tune with his time whose magical name includes God and gold”. Since its earliest days, the couture house has had enormous appeal for film stars, princesses and other famous clients. Celebrities past and present have sparkled in the most beautiful Dior outfits on the red carpet, in films, magazines and at gala dinners. Queen Máxima and her daughter Princess Amalia regularly wear Dior pieces and accessories, just as Diana, Princess of Wales formerly did.

Lady Diana, Princess of Wales

Lady Diana’s most talked-about Dior outfit was thought by John Galliano: a strikingly simple dress in dark blue satin, reminiscent of a negligée. The satin fabric was cut on the bias and fell softly around the body. The press was outraged, as she looked stunning but was clearly not wearing a bra. Was this revealing look befitting of a princess? The matching satin Dior bag Diana carried that evening was later renamed Lady Dior as a tribute to Lady Di, who owned several of them of which two will be displayed in the exhibition.

Marlene Dietrich

World-famous film star Marlene Dietrich ordered clothes from Dior’s second collection in the autumn of 1947. For Alfred Hitchcock’s film Stage Fright (1950), she was allowed to select her own wardrobe and chose Dior, saying: ‘No Dior, no Dietrich’. She had many garments made in Paris, including a suit and a gala dress. The public loved her film wardrobe, and Warner Bros arranged for the pieces to travel through the United States as a promotional stunt for the film. Various outfits worn by Dietrich will be displayed in the exhibition in The Hague. They fit perfectly within the exhibition the common thread of which is a dialogue between Christian Dior and Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s first female Creative Director of women’s collections. Chiuri enjoys working with contemporary female artists, but also draws inspiration from women with whom Dior had a connection. Dietrich, androgynous and powerful, was an important inspiration for recent collections. Visitors will be able to admire Marlene Dietrich in her beloved Dior looks in the Dior Cinema that will be part of the exhibition.

Film stars and princesses in Dior

Marc Bohan’s designs were particularly popular with a younger generation of couture clients, including Princess Grace of Monaco and Princess Lilian of Belgium, as well as celebrities such as Josephine Baker and Olivia de Havilland. The exhibition features outfits worn by such stars and a creation owned by Josephine Baker. Also on display will be a copy of the Miss Dior dress designed by Marc Bohan in 1961. An amusing detail: during a gala evening at the Moscow film festival in 1961, Bohan’s dress caused a major fashion clash: the two most style-conscious actresses of the day – Elizabeth Taylor and Gina Lollobrigida – appeared in the same design. Miss Lollobrigida had her version made in Italy, unaware that Miss Taylor would be wearing the Parisian original in Moscow.

Millifiori for Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman

Many movie stars and princesses still love to dress in Dior today. A beautiful example is the evening dress with embroidered floral motifs by Raf Simons that Nicole Kidman wore to the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Recently, Maria Grazia Chiuri created her version of and reinterpreted the emblematic flower-embroidered Miss Dior dress and dreamed up a raffia-embroidered Millefiori gown for Natalie Portman. The design of hand-pleated and crumpled silk gazar, dyed in a palette of mother-of-pearl tones and embroidered with wildflowers, aligns perfectly with the taste of Christian Dior, who loved country living and colourful flowers. In this and many other classic evening dresses, Maria Grazia Chiuri plays with the transparent effects in combination with lingerie, rejecting the apparent dichotomy between feminism and femininity, activism and the celebration of the feminine.