Exhibition Dates: March 2010 - June 2011

This exhibition introduced the visitor to Christian Dior’s mid-century fashion influence, from the launch of his first collection of women’s garments in 1947, immediately dubbed the “New Look,” to the last he created before his untimely death ten years later.  Because the House of Dior’s initial line was so highly publicized in European and American fashion periodicals and in the American popular press, original copies of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Life magazines were mounted as evidence of his widespread impact.  Retail store ads in local newspapers such as Baton Rouge’s State Times and Morning Advocate and LSU’s annual Gumbo yearbook of student life contained references to the popular New Look innovation in fashion and were used to support local interest.  Period Dior garments purchased at retail in New York and garments altered by Baton Rouge residents to mirror the New Look’s longer hemline served as tangible evidence.  To illustrate the continuance of Dior’s design expertise as a source of inspiration today, the contemporary creative work of an LSU graduate student was included in the exhibition.

Read about our other past exhibitions