Editing Christian Dior (section)

==The Dior fashion house==
{{stack|[[File:Dior denver art1.jpg|thumb|The "Bar Suit" on display at the [[Denver Art Museum]] (2019)]]}}
In 1946, [[Marcel Boussac]], a successful entrepreneur, invited Dior to design for [[Philippe et Gaston]], a Paris fashion house launched in 1925.<ref name=rom>{{cite web |last1=Palmer |first1=Alexandra |title=Dior's Scandalous New Look |url=https://www.rom.on.ca/en/collections-research/books-magazine/rom-magazine/spring-2010/article/diors-scandalous-new-look|website=ROM Magazine|publisher=[[Royal Ontario Museum]]|access-date=6 November 2015|date=Spring 2010}}</ref> Dior refused, wishing to make a fresh start under his own name rather than reviving an old brand.<ref name=pochna>{{cite book |last1=Pochna |first1=Marie-France |translator-last1=Savill |translator-first1=Joanna |title=Christian Dior: The Man Who Made the World Look New |date=1996 |publisher=Arcade Pub. |location=New York |isbn=978-1-55970-340-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/christiandiorman00poch/page/90 90]–92 |edition=1st English language|url=https://archive.org/details/christiandiorman00poch|url-access=registration }}</ref> In 1946, with Boussac's backing, Dior founded his fashion house, ensuring exclusive control over the company and securing a third of all profits in addition to his salary.<ref name=":0" /> The name of the line of his first collection, presented on 12 February 1947,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dior-finance.com/en/historique.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081107025618/http://www.dior-finance.com/en/historique.asp|url-status=dead|title=- Christian Dior Finance|archivedate=7 November 2008|website=www.dior-finance.com}}</ref> was ''Corolle'' (literally the botanical term ''corolla'' or ''circlet of flower petals'' in English). Dior's debut collection included a launch of 90 garments displayed in outfits.<ref name="sowray2012" /> The phrase ''New Look'' was coined for it by [[Carmel Snow]], the editor-in-chief of ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]''.<ref name=bibby/>

Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles that had been influenced by the wartime rationing of [[fabric]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grant |first=L. |title=Light at the end of the tunnel |periodical=The Guardian, Life & Style |date=22 September 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/sep/22/fashion.features |location=London |access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref> Despite being called "New," the Corolle line was clearly drawn from styles of the [[Edwardian era]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=Bernadine |title=A Revolutionary Saint Laurent Showing |journal=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 July 1976 |page=65 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/29/archives/a-revolutionary-saint-laurent-showing.html |access-date=16 March 2022 |quote=[T]he collection Christian Dior showed in 1947&nbsp;... was Edwardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=180–181 |chapter=1946-1956 |quote=Dior's New Look was still relying on old-fashioned underpinnings like boned corsetry&nbsp;... Fashion&nbsp;... reviv[ed] the mock-Edwardian style first presented in the late thirties.&nbsp;... [Dior's] tighter waists, longer, fuller skirts and more pronounced hips were in fact the maximization of an old style}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Christian Dior Cuts Skirt Length in Move Disrupting Couture World |journal=The New York Times |date=1948-02-10 |page=28 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/02/10/archives/christian-dior-cuts-skirt-length-in-move-disrupting-couture-world.html |quote=As in 1900, horizontal strips of tucked lawn, lace insertion and Valenciennes ruching alternate from décolletage to hem...}}</ref> refining and crystallizing trends in skirt shape and waistline that had been burgeoning in high fashion since the late 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |page=194 |chapter=1947 |quote=[T]he trend towards longer skirts, smaller waists and feminine lines had begun in the late thirties and was seen in America in the early forties; hence Dior was not the originator of this mode, but its rejuvenator and popularist.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Snow |first1=Carmel |title=1948 Britannica Book of the Year: A Record of the March of Events of 1947 |date=1948 |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. |page=321 |chapter=Fashion and Dress |quote=...[Christian Dior's] designs...crystallized and dramatized a trend that had started before World War II, but was interrupted by the exigencies of wartime conservation.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cunningham |first1=Bill |title=Fashionating Rhythm |journal=Details |date=1 March 1988 |volume=VI |issue=8 |page=121 |publisher=Details Publishing Corp. |location=New York, NY |issn=0740-4921 |quote=Each of the major fashion changes that mark a season is the result of a series of creative designers adding essential elements to the overall picture. The eventual credit for the genius is often given to the designer who articulated the look with commercial success, such as Dior achieved with his 1947 New Look, although it had been seen in small prototypes at Balenciaga in the early Forties and at other Paris houses just before the war.}}</ref> The house employed [[Pierre Cardin]] as head of its tailoring atelier for the first three years of its existence,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cardin First Struck Gold with Suit Made for Dior |journal=The New York Times |date=1958-08-27 |page=22 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/07/archives/cardin-first-struck-gold-with-suit-made-for-dior.html |access-date=2023-04-05 |quote=Cocteau and Berard...introduced...Cardin to [Dior,] who was...preparing his first fashion collection...Cardin designed, cut, and made a coat and a suit. He showed them to Dior, who...enrolled him on his team....Cardin spent three...years at Dior...}}</ref> and it was Cardin who designed one of the most popular of the Corolle ensembles, the 1947 Bar suit.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cardin First Struck Gold with Suit Made for Dior |journal=The New York Times |date=1958-08-27 |page=22 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/07/archives/cardin-first-struck-gold-with-suit-made-for-dior.html |access-date=2023-04-05 |quote=...Cardin...designed one of the most successful models...a suit called 'Bar,' which buyers the world over bought.}}</ref>

The "[[The New Look (style)|New Look]]" revolutionized women's dress, reestablished [[Paris]] as the centre of the fashion world after [[World War II]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=Bernadine |title=How Paris Kept Position in Fashion |journal=The New York Times |date=1981-04-14 |page=B19 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/14/style/how-paris-kept-position-in-fashion.html |access-date=2022-04-04 |quote=Dior's bombshell brought manufacturers as well as store buyers rushing back to the City of Light as they sought to interpret his inspirational designs for their own clients....Throughout the 1950s, Paris was acclaimed as the source of fashion, and Dior's success helped stave off the development of other independent style centers for at least a decade.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fashionsizzle.com/2014/01/12/christian-dior/|title=Christian Dior – Fashionsizzle|website=fashionsizzle.com|date=12 January 2014|language=en-US|access-date=2 November 2017}}</ref> and made Dior a virtual arbiter of fashion for much of the following decade.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=204 |chapter=1948-1959 |quote=Women obeyed Paris because of Christian Dior.}}</ref> Dior's collection was an inspiration to many women post-war and helped them regain their love for fashion.<ref name="boa"/> Dior believed that fashion was more than clothing; it was an art form and a continuation of French cultural heritage. He described maintaining the tradition of fashion as 'an act of faith,' a way to preserve the mystery and beauty that fashion brought to society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinclair |first=Charlotte |url=https://archive.org/details/vogueonchristian0000sinc/mode/2up |title=Vogue on Christian Dior |date=2012 |publisher=London : Quadrille |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-84949-112-9}}</ref>  Each season featured a newly titled Dior "line," in the manner of 1947's "Corolle" line, that would be trumpeted in the fashion press:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-01 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=169–173 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |s2cid=213675775 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-05 |issn=1314-8796|doi-access=free }}</ref> the Envol<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=221 |chapter=1948-49 |quote=...Dior produces his 'envol' line, superimposing an angle of fullness upon an arrow-thin sheath.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=200 |chapter=1948 |quote=Dior introduced the 'Envol' line, which featured jutting wings and accentuated back interest.}}</ref> and Cyclone/Zigzag lines<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=202 |chapter=1948 |quote=Dior's autumn collection was entitled 'Zig Zag'. It emphasized an asymmetrical line...}}</ref> in 1948; the Trompe l'Oeil<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=205 |chapter=1949 |quote=Dior showed...an ample silhouette, with soft bulk in the skirt or torso, neatly belted in. This was an extension of his New Look. He used trompe-l'oeil devices...}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=170 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=In his Trompe l'oeil collection, Dior used all sorts of tricks to make busts look wider...[H]e put flying panels or pleats on nearly every skirt; when standing still, the figure looked slender and lean, but with movement the panels fluttered and flew.|doi-access=free }}</ref> and Mid-Century lines<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=170 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=Dior's Autumn Collection was called the Mid-Century look. The new Dior dresses and suits were softly bloused on top with tiny belted waists and pencil skirts...|doi-access=free }}</ref> in 1949; the Vertical<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=170 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=The first new look of the fifties was Dior's Vertical Line....Dior was aiming at...the look of a straight line between shoulder and hip...|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=209 |chapter=1950 |quote=The designers of the most uncompromising sheaths were Dior, with his 'Vertical' line...}}</ref> and Oblique lines<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=171 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=Dior stayed with geometry for his...Oblique line. There were...asymmetrical necklines and bodices...[T]ucks and seams spiraled around the body.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=209 |chapter=1950 |quote=Dior uses a stole cut in one with the jacket to achieve the oblique line on his grey flannel suit.}}</ref> in 1950; the Oval<ref>{{cite journal |title=Dior: Fashion's Ten-Year Wonder Leaves Couture Leadership a Question |journal=The New York Times |date=1957-10-25 |page=41 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/10/25/archives/cardin-laroche-givenchy-called-likely-successors-dior-fashions.html?searchResultPosition=3 |quote=1951: He revives his oval line, emphasizing it chiefly in the cut of sleeves and shoulders. He favored spencer jackets, an invention prophetic of future lines.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=171 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=The Oval line[:]...[e]very edge was rounded: suits hugged the body...; shoulders...smoothed into sleeves...; and hips and breasts were gently molded. Sleeves...curved at the top...Dior...used a simple mandarin neck-band – and jackets were rounded off at the front....He introduced a new, snug bolero jacket that...stopped just below the bust.|doi-access=free }}</ref> and Longue/Princesse<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=227 |chapter=1951-52 |quote=This is Dior's first collection without stiffened and padded underlinings, and he launches his immediately successful 'princess' line with dresses fitted through the midriff, waist unmarked.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=171 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...[T]he Long line was soon christened the Princess line...[F]or the Princess line, the waist...stayed where it was...[T]he illusion of a high waist was given by...putting short bolero jackets...over dresses, or by placing a seam under the bust..., or by attaching a half-belt high up across the back...Skirts were fractionally longer to emphasize this long line...|doi-access=free }}</ref> lines in 1951; the Sinueuse<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=171 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...the Sinuous line: soft, fluid clothes that moved with the body...The sweater look consisted of...a soft cardigan jacket, a simple little top...and gentle skirt.|doi-access=free }}</ref> and Profilėe<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=171 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...[T]he Profile line...was sharper and more defined...[T]he clothes were simpler...and cut to outline the body in a dramatic way....[H]e invented a...skirt...constructed to jut out over the hips.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=219 |chapter=1952 |quote=Dior's jutting 'Profile'-line dress..., which stands out as two points of a square at the front and two at the back.}}</ref> lines in 1952; the Tulipe<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=230 |chapter=1953 |quote=Dior reintroduces padding over the bust with his 'tulip' line...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=223 |chapter=1953 |quote=Dior showed his 'Tulip' line, the long body rounding out over the bust and shoulders in petal-shaped curves.}}</ref> and Vivante/Cupola lines<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=172 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=Dior called his Autumn Collection the Cupola, or Dome, line; there were wide, barrel-shaped coats and jackets with exaggeratedly round shoulders,...dresses with full busts and bell skirts, and a...rounded 'bustle' back for evening dresses...Princess dresses...with waists less marked...He raised the hemline by two inches...|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=224 |chapter=1953 |quote=The headline news from Paris this autumn was Dior's skirt – some 16 inches from the ground....Dior offset the rise in hemline by raising the bustline to create an unbroken line,...giving an illusion of length.}}</ref> in 1953; the Muguet/Lily of the Valley line<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=172 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=[Dior] called [his spring collection] his Lily of the Valley line. There were relaxed...suits with pleated skirts and short, sailor-collared jackets....The waist was less emphasized than ever before.|doi-access=free }}</ref> and H-Line<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=228 |chapter=1954 |quote=Dior's 'H' line suggested 'the tapering figure of a young girl' by increasing the distance between the hips and the bust....His dresses featured...bodices...which flattened the bust...}}</ref> in 1954; the A-Line<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=239 |chapter=1955 |quote=Dior produces his new A line, a triangle widened from a small head and shoulders to a full pleated or stiffened hem.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, the Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=230 |chapter=1955 |quote=Dior evolved last year's 'H' line into the 'A' line, which was commercially successful and widely adopted. The 'A' line...flared out into wide triangles from narrow shoulders.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=172 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=The A line and its predecessor, the H line, were revolutionary. They marked a complete U-turn in fashion away from the nipped-in waists and full skirts of the New Look to a sleeker, almost waistless shape...|doi-access=free }}</ref> and Y-Line<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=172 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=The Y line...was defined as a slender body with a top-heavy look....The Y could be upside-down too: long tunics with deep slits up the sides. These were...waistless and easy...|doi-access=free }}</ref> in 1955; the Flèche/Arrow/F-Line<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=172 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...[T]he Arrow line...showed two new versions of the high waist that he had loved since his Princesse line....[T]here were...jackets...chopped off above the waist to show the belt of the dress underneath, and...loose cut jackets caught in with a belt or sash well above the waist and worn over slim skirts.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Inglis-Jones |first1=Kay |title=Fashion Trends Abroad, Paris: Christian Dior's 'F' Line |journal=The New York Times |date=1956-02-03 |page=F20 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/02/03/archives/fashion-trends-abroad-paris-christian-diors-f-line.html?searchResultPosition=1 |quote=...[W]ith his new 'Ligne Fleche' (Arrow Line)[,...t]he letter 'F,' standing for 'fleche' and 'femme,' takes the place of last season's 'Y' line. The new line is straight and high-waisted, with arrow points giving new cut, new draping and interest to sleeves, sleeve mountings and high bust detail. The big news is that princess lines have disappeared, replaced by the two-piece dress...}}</ref> and Aimant/Magnet line<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=173 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...[Dior] produced daytime suits with skirts as long as those of an Edwardian lady. The new line was called Aimant, or Loving...|doi-access=free }}</ref> in 1956; and the Libre/Free<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Radieva |first1=Krasimira |title=An Investigation of the Silhouettes of Christian Dior |journal=Artte |date=2019-03-02 |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=173 |doi=10.15547/artte.2019.03.002 |doi-broken-date=12 November 2024 |url=https://www.academia.edu/81000093 |access-date=2023-05-23 |issn=1314-8796 |quote=...Dior based much of his Libre line on two classic items of clothing[:]...the vareuse, or fishermen's smock,...and...the khaki bush jacket|doi-access=free }}</ref> and Fuseau/Spindle lines<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=242 |chapter=1956-57 |quote=...Dior's last collection leaves a legacy, the waistless shift or chemise dress that narrows toward the hem,...called the 'spindle'...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Blackwell |first1=Betsy Talbot |title=The American Peoples Encyclopedia Yearbook: Events and Personalities of 1957 |date=1958 |publisher=Spencer Press, Inc. |location=Chicago, IL, USA |page=316 |chapter=Fashion |quote=...Paris, led by Christian Dior, ushered in the shift....A dress that bypassed the waist completely, it was actually the climax to a long-evolving 'relaxed look' that was everywhere gaining favor.}}</ref> in 1957, followed by successor [[Yves Saint Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent]]'s Trapeze line in 1958.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howell |first1=Georgina |title=In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue |date=1978 |publisher=Penguin Books Ltd. |location=Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England |isbn=0-14-004955-X |page=246 |chapter=1958}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulvagh |first1=Jane |title=Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion |date=1988 |publisher=Viking, The Penguin Group |location=London, England |isbn=0-670-80172-0 |pages=251–252 |chapter=1958}}</ref>

Dior's last collections, such as the “Libre” and “Fuseau” lines, marked a shift toward a more fluid, relaxed silhouette, distancing from the structured designs of earlier years. These changes reflected Dior's response to the era's evolving social dynamics, foreshadowing styles that would become iconic in the late 1950s and 1960s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Richard (Richard Harrison) |url=https://archive.org/details/christiandior0000mart_q3r5/mode/2up |title=Christian Dior |date=1996 |publisher=New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art : Distributed by H.N. Abrams |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87099-822-5}}</ref>

In 1955, 19-year-old [[Yves Saint Laurent (designer)|Yves Saint Laurent]] became Dior's design assistant. Dior told Saint Laurent's mother in 1957 that he had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him at Dior. She indicated later that she was confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 at the time.<ref name="sowray2012">{{Cite web|title=Christian Dior|url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/christian-dior|access-date=4 June 2020|website=British Vogue |first=Bibby |last=Sowray |date=5 April 2012|language=en-GB}}</ref>