Designed by Christian Dior in 1947 for his first fashion show, the Bar jacket is an emblematic piece of the famous luxury house, a symbol which marked the beginning of a new era in the history of women's fashion and haute couture . Here is his story.

February 12, 1947 is a historic date for fashion. That day, Christian Dior presented his very first fashion show, also the first for the house, which had just been founded in 1946 with the help of a textile industrialist, Marcel Boussac. The event took place at the famous 30, avenue Montaigne. Françoise Giroud, French journalist, writer and politician, then editorial director of the new Elle magazine, said of this fashion show and the great couturier that the young man was destined to become: “ Unknown on February 12, 1947, Christian Dior was famous on the 13 ».

The Bar Dior jacket, the emergence of the “New Look” style

During this fashion show, the “Corolle” dress line and the Bar jacket, also called the Bar suit or Dior suit, caused a scandal, which did not prevent their great success. These pieces, and the entire collection presented, were so innovative that they revealed a new aesthetic, renamed “New Look”, symbolizing revolutionary femininity. This Anglo-Saxon term was chosen by the American Carmen Snow, editor-in-chief of Harpers's Bazaar, legendary figure of the magazine and the most influential fashion world personality of that time. The Bar jacket then appeared in the famous American fashion magazine with a design by René Gruau, and in French Vogue with a design by Christian Bérard.
The “New Look” style is characterized by lengthening skirts, a very pronounced waist and round shoulders. In this post-war period, the desire to escape austerity, to re-enchant France and the world through fashion, was very pronounced. Christian Dior, genius in the design of the female figure, achieved this, in particular by giving the Corolle dress a substantial amount of fabric, defying the austere shapes imposed by fabric restrictions and the ration tickets from which the country was barely emerging, and helping to “make us forget in one go all this fashion of war”. This undoubtedly allowed the chic clientele to reclaim their image after the war. Through the Bar jacket, Christian Dior also created the first silhouettes with soft shoulders, an emphasized waist, basques accentuating the hips and overall rounded shapes, which very quickly, and over the decades, made it the incarnation of elegance and refinement and the essence of styles from the 50s to today.

How to make a Bar Dior jacket?

It is to Pierre Cardin, great couturier, model maker and businessman, who broke the codes of haute couture and made fashion accessible to all by launching into ready-to-wear, that we owe the proportions of the Bar suit. Then a modeler for Christian Dior, the latter would have drawn his inspiration from the Plaza Athénée hotel, located on avenue Montaigne in Paris. Watchword, " slim the body without breaking the waist », translates firstly into more than 500 hours of work and numerous technical feats. Pierre Cardin had the idea of ​​folding surgical cotton to obtain the desired volume without the skirts falling off. The Bar suit presented in 1947 is made up of a shantung jacket (a wild silk fabric in plain weave, originally made in the Chinese province of Shantung, which is characterized by its fluted texture).
Manufacturing this symbol of French excellence requires remarkable artisanal know-how. From the patterning to the assembly, nothing is left to chance to give the tailor both flexibility and hold. Its manufacture requires around 150 hours of work and the expertise of the house's most qualified craftsmen: pattern makers, cutters, seamstresses, fitters. The materials used to make the Bar jacket are chosen with the greatest care. Traditionally, it is made of wool or structured cotton fabric, which allows the architectural lines characteristic of the “New Look” to be retained. The Bar jacket, more than a piece of clothing, is also a story of sculpture and architecture.

The Bar Dior jacket today

Since its first appearance in 1947, the iconic Bar jacket has never disappeared from collections and catwalks. The model was interpreted, revisited, by each artistic direction of the house (apart from Yves Saint Laurent who never reworked it) who knew how to keep its spirit and, of course, the proportions. John Galliano, British stylist and artistic director of Dior for 15 years, reworked it with the Diosera model in the summer of 1997. His successor Raf Simon, Belgian stylist and artistic director of the house for 4 years, took over he rather focused on the basques and the lines of the jacket, but also proposed a combination of Bar jacket and pants instead of a skirt.
The stylist Maria Grazia Chuiri, who spent 17 years at Valentino before being appointed artistic director of the women's universe of the Dior house since 2017 (she is also the first woman to occupy this position), also put the Bar jacket takes center stage, notably offering black and white variations. Season after season, in close collaboration with the best craftsmen, she appropriates the contours of the Bar jacket, giving it a privileged place both during ready-to-wear fashion shows and haute couture fashion shows. Maria Grazia Chuiri thus imagined 30 Montaigne, a permanent collection in homage to the historic cradle of the house, which fully integrates into modernity.

Since its first appearance in 1947, Dior's Bar jacket has never ceased to symbolize the exceptional know-how, innovation and creativity of a great French luxury house. It remains a staple of women's wardrobe and an immortal chapter in fashion history. Although Christian Dior ultimately held the reins of his eponymous house for 10 years, this creation has survived him and will remain iconic.

To learn more

Interested in the history of Chritian Dior and fashion? Discover the series “The New Look” which tells the story of haute couture in Paris under occupation, the past of Coco Chanel, and the rise of Christian Dior, particularly with Lucien Lelong. To discover on Apple TV+ with Ben Mendelshon, Maisie Williams, Juliette Binoche, Emily Mortimer, John Malkovich.