Miss Dior
A Story of Courage and Couture
by Justine Picardie
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Pub Date Nov 09 2021 | Archive Date Oct 19 2021
Description
“Remarkable” —Hamish Bowles, Vogue
The overdue restoration of Catherine Dior's extraordinary life, from her brother's muse to Holocaust survivor
When the French designer Christian Dior presented his first collection in Paris in 1947, he changed fashion forever. Dior’s “New Look” created a striking, romantic vision of femininity, luxury, and grace, making him—and his last name—famous overnight. One woman informed Dior’s vision more than any other: his sister, Catherine, a Resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, and cultivator of rose gardens who inspired Dior’s most beloved fragrance, Miss Dior. Yet the story of Catherine’s remarkable life—so different from her famous brother’s—has never been told, until now.
Drawing on the Dior archives and extensive research, Justine Picardie’s Miss Dior is the long-overdue restoration of Catherine Dior’s life. The siblings’ stories are profoundly intertwined: in Occupied France, as Christian honed his couture skills, Catherine dedicated herself to the Resistance, ultimately being captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck, the only Nazi camp solely for women. Seeking to trace Catherine’s story as well as her influence on her brother, Picardie traveled to the significant places of Catherine’s life, including Les Rhumbs, the Dior family villa with its magnificent gardens; the House of Dior in Paris; and La Colle Noire, Christian’s chateâu that he bequeathed to his sister.
Inventive and captivating, and shaped by Picardie’s own journey, Miss Dior examines the legacy of Christian Dior, the secrets of postwar France, and the unbreakable bond between two remarkable siblings. Most important, it shines overdue recognition on a previously overlooked life, one that epitomized courage and also embodied the astonishing capacity of the human spirit to remain undimmed, even in the darkest circumstances.
Includes Black-and-White Illustrations
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780374210359 |
| PRICE | $40.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 432 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Lori H, Reviewer
Catherine Dior, by no means as well known as her brother, fashion icon Christian Dior, was a hero of the French Resistance, not too many know this. This book is a non-fiction account of Catherine's involvement in the resistance, her arrest and subsequent torture at the hands of the Gestapo and her deportation to Ravensbruck concentration camp. It also tells of Catherine's post WWII life, of the person she became after the horrors she endured at the hands of the Nazis.
This book is well-researched and extremely detailed. We no only learn of the woman that was Catherine Dior, and Christian's much loved sister. But of Christian and the length's he himself went to protect his younger sister.
This book also gives light to the couture fashion industry and how the evolved throughout the occupation of Paris, whether as collaborator or resister.
An extremely informative, detailed homage to a courageous woman who deserves as much if not more recognition as her famous brother. This is a very readable work of non-fiction, I recommend this book highly.
Thank you to the publishers at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.
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