February 2002 Meeting - The Life and Work of Christian Dior

Members of the Andover Women in Business Club were treated to a fascinating insight into the world of fashion at its February meeting, when Andovarian Bill Atkinson spoke about his life and work at the House of Dior.

Beginning with a little of the history of the Dior family, who were in the fertilizer business, Bill explained how Christian Dior had moved into the world of fashion, by opening a picture gallery in Paris to fund his design studies. In time his talents were spotted and he began working in a design studio.

Christian Dior was convinced that garments should be made from the very best designs and only from the very best fabrics. His first collection in 1947 was a huge success and Dior succeeded in creating a fashion house whose name is famous the world over. His career, however, was tragically short lived and he died ten years later in 1957.

Every member of the staff at the Dior fashion house, including Yves St Laurent, who was one of Dior's protégés, has to work his or her way up through the business from the very bottom. Bill Atkinson was, however the only exception to this.

Bill was born in Lancaster and started his ladies fashion career in Huddersfield, gradually working his way up, cleaning sheepskins, picking up pins from the shop floor and eventually working for household names such as Burtons and Harrods.

The turning point in Bill's career came while working for the House of Fraser. Christian Dior had decided to start a ready-to-wear collection and Bill seized the opportunity to get involved. The idea of a ready-to-wear range was met with considerable opposition from others within the House of Dior, and Bill's involvement, as an Englishman, simply inflamed the situation.

However, Christian Dior was determined to proceed and Bill was given the means to build a factory in Italy. Bill traced a man who had succeeded in being able to dye cotton, wool and silk in exactly the same shade. This was a breakthrough in the fashion industry and colour co-ordinates were thus born. Bill persuaded Harrods to sell Dior's new range on a world-wide exclusive basis. The range was launched overnight, and, for the only time in the Store's history, every window in the Harrods store displayed a single range - the mix and match garments.

The range was a huge success, despite being very expensive, and Harrods was left with only five unsold pieces. Ready-to-wear was here to stay.

The House of Dior has gained a reputation for strict and tough training, which for those who succeed, is well rewarded. Members of staff, as many as 6000, live together as part of a community, with housing, cars and amenities provided by the firm. The House of Dior is a family.

Personal service is ingrained in the training and even today lavish attention is showered upon clients fortunate enough to be able to afford Dior designs. Bill gave an insight into the private fittings that a client would receive, where the designer would be able to select from around 150 haute couture designs in the room, and know from experience what would be most suitable. Members heard how cotton patterns are made up for fittings, often several times, before the garment is finally produced in the actual fabric. It was a fascinating insight into a world far removed for most at the meeting, and left many members feeling, as Bill does, that the lack of personal service in stores today has changed shopping. As Bill says, "The fun has been taken out of fashion.