Good Morning, Quilters and Fashion Lovers!
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Dallas to attend the Christian Dior Exhibit at the Dallas Art Museum with my friends, Denise Strueber and Susie Black. (Susie has a great Halloween/Market bag tutorial on her website: Heart and Sew Texas.
Dior: From Paris to the World
The catalog summary:
Since his debut collection, art gallerist turned legendary couturier Christian Dior has generated an epic movement in fashion history. With lavish embroidery, luxurious fabrics, and elegant silhouettes, his designs were a revolutionary celebration of modern femininity when they emerged in Paris after World War II. Today, Dior’s global influence is as enduring and iconic as ever. Dior: From Paris to the World surveys more than 70 years of the House of Dior’s legacy, featuring a dynamic selection of almost 200 haute couture dresses, as well as accessories, photographs, original sketches, runway videos, and other archival material.
Until October 27
The exhibit was fabulous! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see it. The dresses were spectacular, of course– but it was also interesting to see the sketches, swatches and personal letters.
Christian Dior opened his Paris fashion in house in 1947. He was considered a master of creating shapes and silhouettes. His styles were feminine and often voluminous. The dresses were a contrast from the fabric-saving styles worn through the war years.
Seven Directors and Seventy Years
After Dior died in 1957, Yves Saint Laurent (who was only 21 at the time) became the director. (Mr Laurent stayed on for two years, then left to start his own fashion house.)
The exhibit includes dresses from the seven directors who lead the fashion house over 70 years. (My favorite dresses were designed by Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.)
Works of art inspired several of the dresses included in the exhibit. This Christian Dior dress was inspired by a Monet painting.
There was even a quilted dress!
And isn’t this room fabulous? Beautiful dresses-and beautifully staged!
A Dallas Jaunt
The Dior Exhibit inspired the trip to Dallas, but the real fun was hanging out with two gracious ladies, Denise and Susie. (I met them in January when I taught at the Dallas Modern Quilt Guild.) We spent the remainder of the time visiting Dallas quilt shops, enjoying great food and wine, and of course, quilting!
What about YOU?
Have YOU seen the Christian Dior Exhibit?
Do YOU sew fashion garments?
How many friends have YOU made because of YOUR love of quilting?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Your Wish-I-Could-Wear-Dior Quilter,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy Quilts and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to LKQ . For all other purposes, please contact me at Lori@LoriKennedyQuilts.com. Thanks!
18 comments
Christine Barnsley
I saw this exhibition in Paris at the end of 2017. It took my breath away. I found it the most stunning exhibition I had ever seen. Christine xx
Kathie Banks
Oh My Goodness! Hubby and I just got home today from a week in Dallas…but I didn’t read this blog entry until today. We enjoyed the Texas State Fair, an outdoor concert by the string section of the Dallas Symphony doing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and we took in the hand crafted and made in China goods at Canton’s First Monday Trade Days. All in 90+ temps. I would have loved to go indoors with air conditioning to see Dior history! But alas…hubby was on vacation in his home state and his wants were my joys. I made my children’s clothes when they were small and some pieces for my hubby. I also sewed my daughter’s wedding dress and many pieces for myself and for our home. My grandmother was the daughter of a tailor…sewing is in my blood. Thank you for sharing your experience at the museum and sparking us to remember how useful our hobbies are.
Jennifer Payne
I see a one of your beautiful doodle designs using that Dior sketch for inspiration. Just the perfect things for a little girl’s quilt.
Suzanne
What a fascinating exhibit! It makes me want to examine some of those dresses/gowns to see how they are constructed. My grandmother used to do that when we were in a department store; I guess I get it from her. She would take something off the rack, look inside and say, “humph! look how terrible these seams are, or the hem is crooked; you can do better than this!”.
I like that column dress too – if only I were 5’9″ and 110 lbs.
I make fashion garments sometimes, nowhere near haute couture level of course, but I do know how to make decent linings, zippers and hems. I’ve done some men’s clothing and alterations too. Mom and Granny were good teachers.
Sewing is my passion and while I LOVE quilting, I’ll try making anything. I’ve done prom gowns and wedding gowns to kitchen scrubbies and wallets. I love cutting something out, stitching it, and seeing how it comes together. I love to take some things apart and use them as patterns for new garments.
I belong to a quilting group at my church which includes “old” church friends I’ve known for years, and we’ve been attracting women from other churches as well so we all have new friends now.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing photos of that magnificent museum!!
Marta
OooooH! what a treat to see all these dresses. My mom could do all that..sketches for customers too. She made my favorite prom dress which got stolen from the dorm my
freshman year. Told her it was a compliment! But I miss my daughters seeing it. Having sewn since age 10, when I finally began to quilt, I was amazed that I was decades late coming into it ! Really almost obsessed with it nowadays.I sew-quilt with bunch of ladies once a week for 8 years now. We go to shows, exhibits, shops, etc.. Our group has had as many as 20 but over the years, we are down to about 8. Most of us are over age 65 now. We believe that our connection/relationship keeps us young and vital. Our reputation in our small town brings in donations of fabric and supplies when a family is clearing out a loved one’s small or large estate. We donate for several “causes”…local and national.
We are blessed sisters in more ways than one, constantly learning and sharing.
Lori, you have enriched our lives, too, as we have learned so very much from you. Thank you. I am sure the scope of the ” Jaunt” went way beyond what you hoped for. It has been great to be part of seeing it grow. Now, Ms Crawley, I offer a point of view for you. A knot
is just as important as any segment of the process of quilting. Give knots respect and you will not dread making them. Just MHO !!
Hootowl
Lori–will you be at the Quilt festival in Houston? If so, will you be teaching or just looking or maybe at a specific booth?
DebMac
I started out sewing clothing thanks to 4H. I did a few things for myself over the years but found out I really liked sewing for children! I did lots of dresses for our daughter and nieces. They loved the long pastel dresses with lots of lace, they were “princess dresses”. I even made first day of school jumpers for the girls and vests for our son and a nephew. Shorts and pants. And the costumes I turned out! However children grow and wouldn’t wear “homemade” anymore so I took up quilting. My daughter will now refashion or add trim to items for herself and when I announced I was looking a new sewing machines a few years back; she said she wanted my old one before I finished my sentence.
Sue Williamson
What a great trip! It made me think back to making my daughter’s 2 prom dresses and her wedding gown.
All fun but stressful times. I can appreciate all the work that goes into these dresses. One thing I always love in a good movie is the clothing and fabrics. I miss all those years of home ec. But now so enjoy quilting! Much more fun than tailoring a garment. Keep sending us fun morning news Lori.
Sandy
I have made some of my clothing in the past, bit I’d rather be quilting!!! No zippers or buttonholes and you do not wear them, but just cuddle in them!
Susie Black
Lori I had such a grand time hanging out with you and Denise and the exhibit is so worth your time even if you are not a clothes crazy person. We will just have to come up with more reasons for you to come back to Texas!
Susie
HeartandsewTX.com
Arvilla
I had nothing but homemade clothes until my early 20’s. I made my own from the age of 12 on, and I still recall the first time I had store-bought clothes. I didn’t make my own clothes again for decades, then 2 years ago I made myself a sundress. Turns out I really, really prefer quilting.
Maureen B. – you are 100% right!
Some of the dresses in this exhibit are lovely, some I would not wear to clean the cat boxes (specifically that mustard yellow thing with the bow around the thighs). The Gianfranco Ferre dress looks like Napoleon’s Josephine should be wearing it, but I never did care to wear empire waists, even when they were all the thing in my junior high school years. The quilted dress could have been done SO much better. A large stippling pattern would have eliminated that insulated cooler look.
I really like almost every dress in the second photo – they are elegant and not overloaded with gratuitous froufrou due to the designer running out of original ideas. And that gold dress above the red one is just lovely, even if it is not my color (anything remotely yellow-ish makes me look like I am in liver failure).
Having said all that, my opinion is only that. I am sure someone out there is madly in love with the dresses I do not find attractive, and that is fine, it is that sort of thing that makes the world go around. How awful it would be if we all had the exact same taste in everything!! Imagine seeing everyone dressed identically to you every where you went! UGH!!!
heatherdpear
I used to sew my clothes all the time. But my body changed and things were too hard to fit. Now that there are patterns with adjustable bust sizes, I have bought a few patterns and fabrics and want to give it a go once again.
This exhibit looks amazing g. Thanks for sharing.
Suzanne
Hi Heather. I love quilting but enjoy making clothing as well. My figure has changed a little (ahem!) over the years too ; -) Fitting is a LOT easier if you have a dress form in your EXACT size. If you go to http://www.bootstrapfashion.com, you can buy a pattern to make one and it works! I did it and it was easy. It’s fairly inexpensive ($24). It includes a list of materials, very detailed instructions, and ideas of how to make a stand for it. They will give you a specific list of measurements to take and your pattern will be designed according to them. It’s also good because it has zippers in the bottom so you can add or delete a little padding (poly-fil) here and there if your size fluctuates.
Maureen B. in B.C.
What s charming exhibit, too bad it doesn’t travel. I’d id love for it to come to my town. Texas is a looong way away.
I NEVER make clothes any more, because they NEVER look like the picture on the pattern. The last dress I made I wore four times, JUST BECAUSE I MADE IT. The last time, when I got home for work, I tore it off over my head and kicked it across the room and said NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN. My husband thought I’d lost my mind.
Rosemaryflower
Wowwwww so pretty.
These dresses remind me of my MOM. She sewed prolifically and she did make herself designer dresses from Burda and Vogue. They were always very complicated and she always made them look fabulous. She made her dress for my wedding, and she made several dresses for other special occasions in life.
I do not sew fashion garments, but I do deconstruct some garments and add my own pieces, such as the collar, I changed on a shirt, used Sharon Hollands fabrics and the cuffs too. It looks snazzy. I like taking some of my older favorites and making them snazzier
Happy Week-end Lori.
Thanks for sharing this amazing museum adventure
Suz Kuhns
absolutely amazing! thanks for sharing
Diana Lassahn
The quilted dress must have weighed a lot. And only held up by little straps!
Barb Despen
Thanks for sharing pics from the exhibit, Lori! It sounds like it was really fun to see. I don’t make friends easily (too introverted), but my best friends these days are my small quilt group (there are 6 of us). One was a friend from work, one a neighbor, but the rest I know strictly through quilting. We’ve been friends now for many years and go to quilt shops, quilt shows, quilt meetings, and an occasional retreat or trip thrown in.
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