Trailblazer: a new look at the new look

Christian Dior's revolution began with a model in a jacket. So it's no surprise that this summer John Galliano, Dior's creative director, has staged a new look based upon the garment women slipped off men's shoulders and onto their own. In 1947 Dior said he found the solution to "making something new out of something old" by taking the jacket and giving it a fitted, tucked, instant allure that made its wearers feel radical and classical--and beautiful--all at once. Two generations later, Galliano is focusing on an updated version of that New Look. An artist rather than a historian, his new Dior jackets sport that venerable mastery of fit and angle while saturated with colors and details that extend the optimism and elegance he has made his own.

Patrick Giles is Interview's editorial associate.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning