French designer Christian Dior, who died in 1957 at
the age of 52, remains a mythical figure, and Jeune fille en Dior will only add to the legend.
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| Cover of "Jeune fille en Dior". |
This graphic novel by Annie Goetzinger tells the story
of a young woman named Clara who works for a fashion magazine. She loves going
to fashion shows and trying to spot stars such as Rita Hayworth and Marlene
Dietrich.
One day she proposes a photo shoot for Dior models and takes them to
an outdoor market. But when a model grabs an apple as a cute accessory, she is attacked
by an aggressive market vendor, and a nasty fight ensues. The magazine fires Clara but
by then everyone at Dior knows her name.
She visits the couture house and meets the designer
himself, who is charmed by her stories of her family’s interest in dressmaking;
her grandmother also made clothes. Sometime later, Clara is called in to
replace a pregnant model, and in this rags-to-couture story, the clothes make the girl.
Wearing Dior, Clara attracts interest and admiration
and ends up marrying a wealthy man who takes her round the world. He
unfortunately dies a few years later in a shipwreck, and Clara is plunged into
sadness, with not even the luxurious garments of Dior able to lift her spirits.
Hearing the news of her misfortune, the designer calls
and invites her to his latest fashion show, and he also takes her to lunch. In
an optimistic mood, Dior tells her about his plans to go to Italy for a “cure”
and to pass his business to his apprentices, including a young Yves Saint
Laurent. “I will leave them a thriving company, celebrated throughout the
world,” Dior says in the book.
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| A page from the book. |
Days later, as she visits Dior’s birthplace in Normandy,
Clara learns that the designer has died of a heart attack in Montecatini,
Italy. “The date was 24 October 1957” when she heard the news, the author specifies.
She also notes that Clara is a fictional character meant to pay homage to Dior –
“a tireless designer loved by his employees” who, in the space of 10 years,
became a legend in the haute couture world.
The final section of the book gives chronological
information on Dior’s life and his shows, including the private défilé put on for Britain’s queen and her sister in 1950. It also defines the various kinds
of material such as tweed, tulle and shantung (a type of silk from the Chinese
province of Shandong) used in fashion.
The
factual information enriches what might have been just another comic book. But the stilted style of the drawings, though evocative of the period, might not be to everyone's taste. (Publisher: Dargaud, Paris) - L. McKenzie & J.M. De Clercq
