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Director: Nikki PetersenDirector of Photography: Etienne BaussanEditor: Katie WolfordProducers: Chase Lewis, Amaury DelcambreAssociate Producer: Lea DonenbergGaffer: Adam PelleAudio: Colin LarchetProduction Coordinator: Tanía JonesProduction Manager: Kristen Helmick, Evie RoopLine Producer: Natasha Soto-AlborsAssistant Editor: Fynn LithgowPost Production Coordinator: Holly FrewSupervising Editor: Kameron KeyPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschExecutive Producer: Rahel GebreyesSenior Director, Video: Romy van den BroekeSenior Director, Programming: Linda GittlesonVP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri
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00:03Hi, I'm Jonathan Anderson, and we're here in Paris at Dior Heritage, which holds the
00:10collection of Christian Dior, and we're here to show you some of my objects of affection.
00:25So we are just at the front of the building. We have this amazing room where you
00:29can get things out from the archives. You have to put these gloves on because everything is very
00:35precious. The first piece, obviously, to be really cliche, is the bar jacket. It really is a kind
00:41of pillar of the house of Christian Dior. The first time I saw this piece, I don't know, it's sort
00:46of
00:46like because you've seen it in so many images, there's two things that happen. One is sometimes
00:52the image is what makes it iconic, and sometimes when you actually see without a human being in it,
00:57it actually becomes kind of a different thing. It's not that it's less magical, it becomes more
01:01technical. I think what is great about Dior is that he kind of is a bit of an alchemist because
01:07he kind
01:07of looks back to be able to reconstruct the future, and I think that's where this piece kind of comes
01:14into it. It is really going back into the waistline, which, especially when pre-war, everything had
01:20become softer at that point. In a weird way, for me, shows this idea of like resilience or like kind
01:26of it was nearly like France was back in business or something. When I do the couture shows, I'm always
01:33trying to think of like, we have to kind of ignore the value of it because ultimately it's more about
01:37the protection of a craft and so that we then can keep adding to the archive of Dior and at
01:43the same
01:43time keep the self-affair going. I like this idea that it is sort of like a way for me
01:49to experiment
01:50with how you either go up the body or down the body. In the last crew show, we went longer
01:57with it. In the
01:58first show, we went higher with it. We slit the back open. When you do some sort of subtleties in
02:03it, it
02:03means that it actually can go further than you think, but at the same time, you can bring it back
02:07into its own
02:07because it's kind of the most amazing blank canvas. So this is the seagull. As much as I love the
02:14bar
02:14jacket, this is my favorite dress in history because I think it is so radical the way in which it
02:20is cut.
02:20On the top looks how nearly a kimono is cut where you're cutting on flat. I've always been obsessed by
02:27this sort of front panel. Obviously, I have referred to it to do the seagull bag because I was very
02:33into this
02:33idea of how this could be transferred into like a bag structure. I just think there's something about it that
02:39I feel that where classicism and modernity can meet together. Dior is the garden. There is a romance
02:45to him. As much as that the thing that I always kind of relate to him with this, I actually
02:49think
02:50the part that's not really spoken enough about Dior is that I think he was an incredible businessman
02:56as a designer. And I think he was very smart looking at how he dealt with Hollywood and how he
03:01worked with
03:02product placement. He's thinking about that process with Hitchcock and how getting it on the right
03:09people was part of the marketing. I think it's in fashion, as much as we can get very serious about
03:16it, there comes a point where you want to make sure there's something that kind of lets go of it.
03:21You know, when you think of like when Dior did shows in very small salons and it was smoking and
03:27people were watching 80 looks go by, he would sometimes put a red dress to kind of wake people
03:33up and it's ultimately quite camp when you look back. And I quite like that part because it's sort of
03:40we don't live in that world anymore, but at the same time there is something deeply romantic about it.
03:45We are here to look at probably one of Dior's most incredible dresses,
03:54which is the Juno. It has to lay down like this because it can't actually go on a mannequin anymore
04:00because of its age and the way in which it is made. And there it is. Even just looking at
04:10it now with
04:11you guys, it's sort of like it is such a magical dress. I think when design is really good and
04:18when it captures the moment of its time, it's hard to beat. But yeah, she's having to lie flat because
04:24she's not very well. She's been worn, probably worn and had a lot of fun in. You can see here
04:30that
04:30it's starting to disintegrate a bit. But that's what, you know, what's so important about Dior Heritage is
04:36you know, we have this amazing team of people who are protecting these pieces. It's probably the most
04:43important part of Dior because there is not many brands that have history like this. After the
04:49Second World War, the world goes through one of probably the most traumatic moments in modern day
04:54history. But it is a change of the aristocracy at that period. The British were the kind of pioneers
05:00of the aristocracy at that moment. They had made a lot of money through the industrial revolution.
05:05The war happens, which ravishes Europe. And then we have the birth of America
05:12and the new aristocracy. So you've got Getty and Rockefeller. And what is interesting about this
05:20is that the person going after Dior in that period, it was about occasion. We had occasions to go to.
05:28Wealth and the idea of celebration changes. It becomes the volume turns up. In previous jobs,
05:37I wasn't, you know, I didn't do huge amounts of embellishment. When you look at the history of Dior
05:42and you look at other designers in it, the embroidery that we can do is amazing. And it actually becomes
05:49quite addictive because the people that do it are incredibly addictive. They want to prove that they
05:55can make anything.
05:59My next object is this incredible puffer jacket
06:04by John Galliano for Christian Dior. It was actually one of the first pieces, a group of pieces,
06:11that I asked the archive to see when I joined. John is just fantastic of how he reimagines things.
06:18And I think what is interesting is that the pockets are very Dior. It is something that for me that
06:23has
06:23the kind of essence of like new and old world meeting in it. And I think this is very, very
06:30hard to do.
06:30And that's why John is a master. And, you know, when you first join a house and you have someone
06:37like John Galliano before it, it's very, very daunting. But, you know, I think there's so much
06:41to learn in a piece like this. John is like looking at here as you look at people like Poiré,
06:46where they are looking to the east in terms of like how people are dressing. And I think it creates
06:51such like kind of like couture utilitarian-ness. So it's a dream piece. I think it's something that
06:57I would wear myself. I think I would wear this walking to work with jeans and a pair of boots.
07:02I think there's something about this piece that just gives such attitude. You know,
07:07it stood the test of time. I think it's still incredibly relevant and modern. This jacket by John
07:14could be styled with a Juno. And it could be such a look with a pair of Converse, for example.
07:20And it would look great. And at the same time, they can go on mannequins around the
07:25the world into museums and we see them as pieces. And that's what's great about Dior as a brand.
07:31It is like, it's like great cinema. It has everything in it, ups and downs. It has had multiple cast
07:38and
07:38crew. It reinvents itself. There's so many brands that can do that. So the next object I'm going to show
07:45you is the book to press, which is for the very first show of Christian Dior. I've actually never
07:50touched this one. I always love inside the rooms. I wish fashion was like this today because there is
07:56such kind of like revere and spectacle about fashion. We somehow lost that a bit. And you can
08:03see how close people got to clothing and, and how people dressed for it. What is interesting is in the
08:08building, you have the cabin, which you can kind of see here. It's incredibly small where the models
08:16got changed. And it's actually way smaller than you think. It makes the backstages at a fashion show
08:22look completely obnoxious. The show was 95 lux. It was probably an hour and a half long. I can barely
08:30get guests to stay for 15 minutes without racing out. I think on the morning of the show, I think
08:37Dior was a
08:37very emotional person, but I think, you know, this is the, you know, the birth of a brand that did
08:42not
08:42exist. And I think there was a lot of pressure ultimately to kind of make it work. I think every
08:47first show is emotional because ultimately you're trying to kind of birth out a kind of concept, an idea
08:55of where you want to go. And it's quite nice doing this today because it's a nice reminder to come
09:00back
09:00to the archive and sort of realize what is the mission. We are now in the accessories archive,
09:10which is kind of like one of the most beautiful stores that we have. Shoes, hats, jewelry, and many
09:18other things. We have this amazing shoe, which is by Roger Vivier. I like a statement shoe. And for me,
09:28Dior
09:29Vivier creates some of the greatest shoes in history. They're kind of like sculptural in
09:33themselves. And why I picked this one is ultimately Lily of the Valley is something we all know that
09:39is synonymous with Dior. The great thing is that Dior is very superstitious. I'm incredibly superstitious,
09:44sometimes to the point where it's ridiculous. That's what I quite like with Dior is he has these
09:49little motifs, you know, when you look at some early shoes or you look at the jewelry and things,
09:55you have the ladybird, which is always another symbol of good luck. And like, you know, you have
09:59the Lily of the Valley, you have the little star that we sometimes sneak into different things on
10:03the bottoms of shoes. I don't know. I think it's something that is sort of storytelling and it gives
10:09a bit of poetry. The great thing about superstition is that it kind of has carried through the history of
10:13Dior somehow. And I quite like that because there's something kind of humanizing in Dior himself
10:21because he had that. And I think we all have like things that we think are good luck or not
10:25good
10:25luck. Mine are all about magpies. If I see magpies, if I see a two, it's fine. If I don't,
10:29I have to
10:30see one, I have to like salute it. Definitely do not go underneath the ladder. Mirrors breaking is
10:37the worst. And then sometimes, for example, if I have a bad thought, I will like knock my head.
10:42Maybe to my grandmother yesterday.
10:48We are here in the library and I wanted to quickly show you this book, which is Dior by Dior.
10:59And I
11:00think this goes back to this idea, as much as we see Dior as the sort of designer, this, you
11:04know,
11:04he was a very smart marketeer and very smart at telling his story. You really, you realize that
11:12like it's kind of funny, Dior. And at the same time, he understands telling the story of himself.
11:19And he's aware, I think it's one of the most interesting things about Dior, of his place in
11:24time. You know, you realize that he is human and you realize that he sees the world in a very
11:29different
11:29way that we do. There is a romance to him that, you know, he's like, you know, it's like a
11:34Jackie
11:34Collins novel, but not.
11:40So I wanted to show you in here, this is a coat that I really love. It's called the Arizona.
11:47As you
11:47can see, these are the pockets that John had referenced on the jacket that we had just saw
11:52earlier. And it's in this amazing red. And it's something that I've been kind of like playing
11:57with a bit recently to try to see if how I could reinterpret this for couture. And it's kind of
12:04time's cut. I could wear this one too with jeans. I think it kind of works. This is an amazing
12:08piece.
12:09You can see the puffer in it. And once again, you see how he reverts to this button a lot,
12:15which we
12:15had saw in the bar jacket. So this is one year after. I think it's going to pop it back
12:21in.
12:23In this space, we have all these like, kind of amazing kind of like they roll through,
12:29which you can get in libraries. And we're now just heading down to see how Dior did the kind of
12:37plannery of collection. And it just shows you how he kind of attribute the kind of looks. So they,
12:42you have the sketches here, you then have all the fabric allocation here. This is such a kind of
12:47like meticulous way of working out everything in the collection, because you're kind of seeing it,
12:52the coloration, the volume. And as you see here, you know, which Dior really reverts to a lot too,
12:59is this idea of kind of black and white. He uses a lot of like Pitbull, Grisaglia, and a lot
13:07of
13:07fie. You know, he kind of continues to use this sort of like fie structure. And then if you look
13:14here, you can then see you have all the different types of embroideries, the print. And it's nice,
13:21because it's sort of like really good for us to then go back into because we can actually see
13:25exactly the fabrics. And a lot of the shows that we have been doing now since the very beginning is
13:32really going back in and recreating fabrics or twisting fabrics or using different materials.
13:37Going back to the site, there was a revere in fashion. And I think there was a process which
13:43was slower. And at the same time, I think there was a preciousness to it. It's kind of magic,
13:48like, you know, this is, these are his sketches. And the team here that we have are so dedicated.
13:54We're very lucky that it's being preserved ultimately, so that anyone can then see it in the future.
14:05Well, thank you very much, guys, for coming to the Dior Archive and Dior Heritage,
14:10and for following me around and seeing all my objects of affection.