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Skirt Suit

1966 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Marc Bohan was the House of Dior’s longest-serving creative director. He worked at several Parisian couture houses including Piguet, Molyneux and Patou before joining Dior in 1958. His initial role was to design the London collections. In 1961, he showed his first collection as Christian Dior's creative director in Paris, receiving jubilant reviews from the fashion press. Bohan continued as creative director, steering the house through the cultural shifts of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, until departing in 1989.

This suit was ordered from the Christian Dior salon in Paris by Jill Ritblat.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Jacket
  • Skirt
  • Blouse
Materials and techniques
wool, silk, machine sewn, hand sewn
Brief description
Skirt suit of grey striped wool with white linen sleeveless blouse, Christian Dior by Marc Bohan, Look 3 haute couture spring/summer 1966, Silhouette courte et mouvante collection, Paris, France
Physical description
Short-waisted jacket in grey wool with white stripes. It has a collarless round neck and centre-front button opening. It has long sleeves with detachable white cuffs fixed with poppers. The jacket is lined with grey silk. Matching skirt with cream silk 'Liberty' bodice top with centre-back zip opening with hook at top of neck. There is also a left side zip with poppers on the skirt. The skirt is not lined.
Sleeveless white linen blouse with round stand collar and button centre-front opening.
Dimensions
  • Jacket length: 43cm
  • Skirt length: 88cm
  • Blouse length: 43cm
Production typeHaute couture
Gallery label
LOOK 3 ENSEMBLE Christian Dior by Marc Bohan (b.1926) Haute couture, Spring/Summer 1966 Silhouette courte et mouvante collection Wool, linen and straw Victoria and Albert Museum - T.362:1 to 3-2000 - Given by Jill Ritblat Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams(02/02/2019-14/07/2019)
Credit line
Given by Jill Ritblat
Object history
Jill Ritblat has said this about the grey suit:

"The grey Dior suit was bought at the same time as the pink dress and coat ensemble*. At Jewish weddings, you go to synagogue the Saturday before the wedding, so that was where the suit was worn, and to the lunch afterwards. I wore this suit a lot as well, even to go shopping in. Sometimes I wore it with one of my Hermès printed silk turban hats. I also wore the little red hat** separately at Ascot with a Courrèges dress and jacket."

* - see T.359:1 to 3-2000
** - T.358-2000

(Added by DMC, 21/07/2017)
Summary
Marc Bohan was the House of Dior’s longest-serving creative director. He worked at several Parisian couture houses including Piguet, Molyneux and Patou before joining Dior in 1958. His initial role was to design the London collections. In 1961, he showed his first collection as Christian Dior's creative director in Paris, receiving jubilant reviews from the fashion press. Bohan continued as creative director, steering the house through the cultural shifts of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, until departing in 1989.

This suit was ordered from the Christian Dior salon in Paris by Jill Ritblat.
Other number
9 - Ritblat catalogue
Collection
Accession number
T.362:1 to 3-2000

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Record createdAugust 22, 2000
Record URL
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