Dior

Christian Dior was born on January 21, 1905, in Granville, Normandy. He moved with his parents to Paris, where he later studied Political Science at the prestigious Sciences Po . He was interested in architecture, and in his spare time he sketched clothes, among other things. These designs were so well received that he sold them to couture houses and illustrated the fashion supplement of Le Figaro . This talent led to his being hired as a designer by Robert Piguet in 1938. In 1941, he moved to Lucien Lelong. Five years later, Marcel Boussac, a textile tycoon, decided to finance Dior's fashion house, and bought a house on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, where Dior still has his home base today.

In 1947, Dior launched his first collection for spring/summer, which quickly became known as the 'New Look': extremely narrow waists with flared skirts. Dior was recognized as a haute couture fashion house by "La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture".

In addition to haute couture, Dior also designed jewelry. Dior died unexpectedly in 1957, during a vacation in Montecatini, Italy. The exact cause of death remains unclear, although a heart attack is often cited as the reason.

His assistant Yves Saint Laurent took over in 1957 and presented his first collection, Trapeze , in 1958.

Since 1997, John Galliano was appointed as artistic director. He created two collections per season, a prêt-à-porter line and a couture collection. Since 2006, the cruise line has also been added. On March 1, 2011, Galliano was fired following anti-Semitic statements. John Galliano's successor is Raf Simons. Simons left the company in November 2015.