Venus Dress by Christian Dior - Essay Example

Venus Dress by Christian Dior The Venus dress was designed through the elements to add fantasy and luxury to women wear which was believed by Christian Dior as a way to make haute couture survive. The major characteristic is the wasp waist shape and bottom side overlaps. The Venus dress was an extraordinary version of the ball gowns that were introduced by Christian Dior in fashion for formal occasions and remain favorite formal attire up to date. It was a glittering over skirt with the major fashion phenomena tailored on its strapped or strapless bodice and the revival of the wasp-waisted silhouette. My final paper uses different illustrations of the Venus dress by Christian Dior particularly converging interest on different perspectives and characteristics of the dress. The illustrations have been taken from earlier publications as well as articles that showcase different ways in which the formal dress was used. Basically, the clothing was fixed on adding fantasy and luxury in addition to introducing the hour glass shaping that missed for decades.1 Among the widely celebrated individuals with a taste to fashion, Christian Dior cannot be left out. Motivated to a large extent by his ‘New Look’ fashion concept, Dior responded to the gaps in formal make by introducing the Venus dress as a development of the earlier used evening gown. The Venus dress is in line with the motive that focused on bringing more relevance to feminine style. In retrospect, Christian Dior had a deep attachment to femininity and used fashion to seduce flowery girls into fantasy after the dooms of World War II. 2To add taste to the formal affairs long flowing gowns were earlier used which ranged from tea and ballerina to full-length gowns, which needed a change as time advanced. The clothing was made of luxurious fabrics and usually consisted of a full skirt and a fitting bodice (Loughran 79). The Venus dress was different from the earlier fashion in the shape of evening gowns in the sense that it did not have an empire silhouette or a dropped waist. 3 The image attached is a frontal illustration of the Venus dress showcasing Christian Dior’s top-notch design elements in fantasy which is a bit ideal though marveling. The shell-shaped scallops evident as well as the silvery linings in the spume-like net have been used by the designer to evoke Venus stories, which add more relevance to its creation in an ideal of beauty. Captured in 1950; the garments features have strived to make an archetypal dimension which the designer uses to create deep feeling exhibited by the world wars to signify its historical attachment. As it is very vivid, Christian Dior’s work had immense connotation to the war theme balls. Loughran (90) explicates, “The shell forms and bodice of the dress’s skirt are embroidered with nacreous sequins and paillettes, aurora borealis crystals, iridescent seed beads, and pearls.” Its dazzling overskirt and train adumbrate, as well as the crescent wave patterns and seashell motif depicts Botticelli’s Venus. In addition to that, the selection of the silver nets was used to pronounce the rise of Venus from the waters, which in a way reflected the evolution in fashion dimensions, and freedom from wars. Sticking to Christian Dior’s inclusions for the Venus dress, the image is a depiction of evolution in contemporary culture with the escapism of the 1970s finding value in fashion. The fine tunings makes the fabric more dazzling maintaining the same design while putting more relevance on the narrow waists, which makes the dress assume a wasp shape. To add more value on classical iconography, the shaping is more geometrical and straps included. Wilson (78) says “fashion was more inclined in including more beauty to the dressing as an attribute of Christian Dior’s elements, which are vivid as well.” The dress is adorned with grey silk net containing feather-shaped opalescent sequins. As an evolution of the 19th century fashion, evening styles experienced a dramatic change hence the need to distinguish formal and informal occasions (Baker 58). As a major characteristic as in the first illustration, the dress consists of strapless bodice and full length to the floor. The Venus as in this case is arrayed with an overlay of scallop-shaped petals that adds more value and fantasy to its extraordinary nature. As it can be revealed in the image, there are various elements of modernity and formal aspect that Dior wanted to standardize in his artwork. First, there is revival of the wasp-waisted silhouette, which is a reflection of general attachment to narrow waists in the mid century (1950s). There is also maintenance of the crescent wave patterns as well as the seashell motif which are aspects of the wide new look formula by Christian Dior. Wilson (70) says, “In addition to the revolution of the old look, the dress has been embroidered with simulated pearls and iridescent seed beads as well as long dimensions needed for formality purposes, fantasy and luxury outlook.” Venus dresses as depicted by the image showcased dropped waists and Venus dress’ princess styles which were popular in more romantic environments as factored in its cuttings and sleeves. The first image clearly depicts this. It contains vivid aspects of the Dior’s characteristic elements as well as its relevance in luxury and additional fantasy. The exhibition successfully explores the arrays of these clothing through the traditional costume, which continues to make effect until today. They continue to reveal Christian Dior’s affiliation to femininity and determination to seduce women in more fantasy. The dress contains several elements of display which added luxury to the feminine wear. This was a major objective in Christian Dior’s fashions. Parkins (67) asserts that “the strapless nature and the glass beads were in particular the major inclusions while the sequins and the diamantes that accented the strapless bodice complimenting the aesthetics of Christian Dior’s fashion that attaches value to fantasy and luxury in the feminine class.” The overlaps were at times close depicting some variation in texture and in turn adding more sensation to its outlook. As required with the evolution of time, it was necessary to include a reflection of eternal beauty in the dressing, which has been highly factored by considering the dimensions of the waist, the length of the dress as well as bare shoulders through exclusion of straps (Smith 89). The image was taken in the 1949-50 during Christian Dior’s presentation of the dress. The model was from Vintage Fashions since they were the one contracted by Christian Dior to help in marketing the new dress. The model in the image is presenting the Venus dress to a panel of other designers so that they may have a glimpse of Christian’s wonderful creation. The women in the image are other designers who are interested in seeing Christian Dior’s marvelous creation. The photographer’s real name is not well known; however, he is one of Vintage Fashions photographers. In this regard, they were able to give their opinions of the Venus dress. After explicating the various elements of the Venus dress as demonstrated by the image, it is evident that Christian Dior put a lot of wide thought, creativity and determination to aesthetic and value in his work. There is unique feature in the way he handles his pieces of work as well as attends to the demands of fashion. It is a fact that all his ideas have been converged to the coverage of specific elements in fashion which is fantasy and luxury (Pochna 40). Having successfully factored them in the works as a response to different events necessities, Christian Dior can arguably be considered as one of the most influential designers. In conclusion, Christian Dior work is arguably one of the best personalities in design and natural impression (Pochna 34). This is mostly exhibited by the way the Venus dress attaches value to luxury and fantasy design. The main reason for inclusion of Venus dresses was to introduce a more formal approach to affairs as opposed to traditional approach to occasions.4 The analysis of the image showcase a narrow silhouette in the dresses as was the taste during the times as well as nipped-in waistlines which was an aspect of the evolution in the new look appearance that revealed more formality to the female attire. Although the strapless bodice is the common element in the gowns long sleeves is also vivid although it was a requirement for the cuts to be made off-the-shoulder.5 The delicate effects of the Venus dress as demonstrated in the image accompanied by the conventional iconography of eternal and beauty demonstrates Dior’s strong conviction that, ‘fashion emanates from a dream’ (Breward 67). Appendix: The Venus dress: Mediated Images Fig 1: 1949-50 - Christian Dior presentation Venus dress https://www.pinterest.com/pin/275986283389663553/ Works Cited Baker, Patricia. Fashions of a Decade. Infobase Publishing, 2006. Breward, Christopher. Fashion. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003. Print. Loughran, Kristyne. "The idea of Africa in European high fashion: Global dialogues." Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture 13.2 (2009): 243-272. Mendes, Valerie D, La H. A. De, and Valerie D. Mendes. Fashion Since 1900. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. Print. Parkins, Ilya. Poiret, Dior and Schiaparelli: fashion, femininity and modernity. A&C Black, 2013. Pochna, Marie France. Christian Dior: the man who made the world look new. Arcade Publishing, 1996. Smith, Graham. "The Subway Grate Scene in The Seven Year Itch:“The Staging of an Appearance-As-Disappearance”." Cinémas: Revue détudes cinématographiquesCinémas:/Journal of Film Studies 14.2-3 (2004): 213-244. Smith, Charlotte. Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story. Simon and Schuster, 2010. Wilson, Elizabeth. "Deviant dress." Feminist Review (1990): 67-74. Read More