Christian Dior made this suit in 1947 and it has become one of the most famous
silhouettes of 20th-century fashion. It is called the Bar Suit. Essentially, the Bar
Suit is a revival of the nineteenth-century hourglass figure: softly rounded
shoulders, tight sleeves, a nipped-in waistline and a very, very wide skirt.
The look has been described as needed by a world emerging out of the Second World
War. It is a conservative look for a shattered world longing for a return to
order and respectability. Chromatically, it is also a return to black-and-white
basics. The success of this outfit was a triumph of PR. The Bar suit was
heralded as ‘a new look’ by Carmel Snow, then editor of Harper’s Bazaar. The view
became a label shared by many, including Dior himself who used it in his
autobiography titled "Christian Dior et Moi.” Following a few acclaimed catwalks
in Paris, Dior sealed his success with a promotional tour across the US in the
fall of 1947. It took him to New York, Dallas, Chicago, and California. Dior gave
numerous interviews and was featured on many magazine covers. Walt Disney
started working on his box-office hit "Cinderella" shortly after the French
designer's departure, and it is no coincidence that the protagonist of this movie wears
a Christian-Dior-like gown at the ball. While the planetary success of Dior’s New
Look is unquestionable, however, I think that the Bar Suit is fascinating for
its relations to war. Fashion needs war, at least in principle. It needs the ground
zero that wars produce, as it is instrumental for unleashing the
narratives and self-narratives of
change on which fashion depends. By
producing losses, Wars set the
circumstances for fashion's regeneration.
So to study Dior’s gowns and their success, is a way to explore some
powerful questions about the way creation and destruction can be intimately linked.
