Venice is a city all about spectacle. Last week, on the Lido across the waters of the lagoon, Dior unveiled their latest high jewellery collection – Diorissima. Following on from last years standout Diorexquis collection Diorissima is a new collection of 141pieces. Shown at one of Italy’s most romantic settings amongst a backdrop of diamonds, gems and couture, the models wore the jewels alongside specially created gowns by Jonathan Anderson. Meanwhile a gala dinner and runway presentation transformed the Palazzo del Casinò into a glittering celebration of the house.
But for all the carved emeralds, pink spinels and seven-carat diamonds, the most fascinating story behind Diorissima is not about the jewels themselves. It’s about a forgotten chapter of Christian Dior’s life.
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Dior describes the collection as a tribute to the art of collage and to the artists admired by Monsieur Dior. On first read of the press release this sounds like familiar luxury-house mythology. However, there was more to M. Dior than the ‘New Look’. Before he became Christian Dior the brand and fashion designer, Christian Dior was an art dealer.
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Christian Dior’s art gallery
In 1928, at just 23 years old, Dior opened an art gallery in Paris with his friend Jacques Bonjean. The gallery was financed by his family, although interestingly he was not allowed to use the Dior name above the door. The gallery quickly became the meeting place for some of the twentieth centuries greatest painters – Picasso, Braque, Miró, Giacometti, Calder and Man Ray were all well known to the young M. Dior. Later, he even partnered with dealer Pierre Colle, who was the first to exhibit Salvador Dalí’s now-famous The Persistence of Memory.
It was an incredible start in life, but then came the crash. The Great Depression changed everything and combined with Dior’s own health struggles, he was forced to abandon the world of art. By 1934 he was sketching dresses for couturiers to earn a living. Fashion was where he made his name, but for the fact of the depression he might have remained a gallery owner.
That history feels deeply embedded within Diorissima. “I like to start with stories, or with a concept, because for me there has to be a new story with the jewellery,” Creative Director of Jewellery Victoire de Castellanellery told me a few years ago. Here, the story begins back in M. Dior’s early days as an art dealer. Stones are layered, colours collide and unexpected combinations create effects that feel closer to layered brushstrokes than classical jewellery design. Dior was the first fashion house to have a creative director of jewellery which has given Victoire de Castellane more creative freedom than others on Place Vendôme.
The collection’s defining technical feature is its use of doublets, where one gemstone is layered over another to produce colours that would be impossible to achieve naturally. Opal sits over chrysoprase. Green chalcedony overlays turquoise. Lacquer, another long-standing Dior Joaillerie signature, introduces bold flashes of colour that feel deliberately layered. The result is a jewellery collection that resembles miniature works of art rather than high jewellery.
The three Chapters
Diorissima is made up of three chapters. The first explores nature through clover, flowers and fruit. Among the highlights is the spectacular Glycines bib necklace, a wisteria bloom necklace made up of over 4,000 gemstones combining Tanzanian pink spinels, rubies and sapphires.
The second chapter covers life under the sea. Beautiful corals, bubbles and sea life emerge through vivid combinations of coloured stones, including the Fleur Aquatique necklace centred around a Paraíba tourmaline.
Lastly Dior looks to the heavens. Suns, eclipses and constellations appear throughout a celestial world. It’s crowned by Voie Lactée, a standout necklace that scatters thousands of diamonds around a seven-carat central stone.
Transformation of her pieces has always played a central role for de Castellane. Brooches become hair ornaments, necklaces can be reconfigured and pieces reveal hidden functions.
What makes Diorissima particularly successful, is the way it reconnects Dior with its origins. For nearly three decades, de Castellane has built her own distinctive visual language at Dior. It’s rooted in colour, fantasy and irreverence. But here, she looks beyond the familiar references of roses, couture silhouettes and the New Look. It’s still Christian Dior, but him before the house, hanging paintings on a gallery wall.
Luxury houses will always refer to their heritage, but the strongest collections are those that uncover stories that have been forgotten. Beneath the diamonds and gemstones lies a reminder that before fashion, couture and Avenue Montaigne, Christian Dior’s first love was art. And one hundred years later, M. Dior’s forgotten passion still echoes through the house.
Also, Take a closer look at Marilyn Monroe’s jewellery that’s coming to auction soon
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