Dior’s dolls in couture inspired by miniatures from another time of global crisis in World War II’s aftermath

Miniature mannequins were used to present the latest collection from French couture house Dior, just as French couturiers had done in 1945

Back then, the show of miniatures was a response to shortages of materials. Even so, the dolls had elegant coiffures, hand-sewn underwear, and even jewellery

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Maria Grazia Chiuri, designer for fashion house Dior, poses next to her haute couture creations on miniature mannequins. The dolls in couture echo a similar show French couturiers put together amid post-war austerity in 1945, and which kick-started an haute couture renaissance. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:37pm, 8 Jul 2020Updated: 9:05pm, 9 Jul 2020

French couture house Dior this week remembered a time of crisis 70 years ago, when the bloody upheaval of World War II pushed French fashion designers to dig deep to revive the fashion industry.

Rising to the challenge, in 1945 designers dressed miniature mannequins in high fashion collections and sent them on a tour of Europe and then the United States.

This week, in reaction to the global coronavirus pandemic that many see as another historic global crisis, Dior unveiled its haute couture collection on 37 miniature mannequins, one-third human size – echoing the post-war effort. Likely to become sought-after collectors’ items, these exquisitely dressed modern mannequins are housed in trunks, miniature replicas of Dior’s fashion flagship building in Avenue Montaigne, Paris.

“We made this project in a very particular moment of our lives,” says Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, who began working on the 2020 show remotely under the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in Rome, coordinating with the seamstresses and production crew who were also working from home. Like the post-war French designers, Dior intended to send the message that “traditions were alive” in Paris despite the worldwide coronavirus tragedy and widespread lockdowns.

A seamstress works at the Dior workshop ahead of the French fashion house’s online presentation of its haute couture autumn/winter 2020/2021 collection using mannequins. Photo: Reuters

This year’s Dior couture gowns are inspired by surrealist women artists such as photographer Lee Miller, and accompanying the release of the miniatures is a fantastical film shot by Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone.