Cream Dior dress of Princess Margaret

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Cream Dior dress of Princess Margaret
DesignerDior
Year1951
TypeOff-the-shoulder couture gown
MaterialSilk organza over satin

Museum of London
since 1968.

Background

Princess Margaret originally met Dior during her first trip to Europe.

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark.[1] Dior admired the princess's style and described her as "very charming".[1] In terms of dressing, her sister was expected to remain loyal to British brands, whereas Margaret could afford to take bolder risks with fashion.[2] She subsequently became one of his first high-profile English clients.[1][3] In 1951, Princess Margaret ordered her 21st birthday gown from the Dior's 'Oblique' line, an adaption of the 'Matinee Poetique' design that had been presented in the Spring/Summer collection.[4][2]

Design and debut

The dress is an embroidered, off-the-shoulder cream couture gown with chiffon sleeves, made of silk organza over satin, and featuring beads, mother-of-pearls, sequins and raffia detailing.

New Look, which reintroduced feminine features and voluminous skirts in a post-World War II era.[3][2] Upon viewing the gown, the princess joked that the adornments resembled potato peelings.[7]

Princess Margaret wore the dress to her birthday commemorations, which took place at

Museum of London, which was then based at Kensington Palace.[9][1][4]

Legacy and exhibition

Princess Margaret, considered a

Yves Saint Laurent, transitioning from couture to ready-to-wear.[10][2][1][4] In his autobiography, Dior wrote that Margaret "crystallised the whole popular frantic interest in royalty".[10] Several Dior pieces were marketed 'as worn by Princess Margaret' after her purchase.[10] Katie Frost for Harper's Bazaar, Katie Trotter of Vogue Arabia, Dean Mayo Davies from Another Magazine, and Brigit Katz of Smithsonian magazine all referred to both the gown and portrait as "iconic", with Katz calling the look "the vision of a princess."[1][11][3][10] Beatrice Behlen, curator of the Museum of London, compared the dress's "sweeping lines" to Cinderella's ballgown.[4] Vogue Arabia deemed the dress as one of the 10 most important moments in fashion history.[11]

In 2019, the dress was loaned from the London Museum to the

David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.[2] The gown was the centrepiece of the exhibit, and had to be restored by curators upon its arrival, with conservator Emily Austin speculating that the wear-and-tear indicated that the gown was "well-loved".[3] Harper's Bazaar called the dress "one of the standout dresses of the show".[1] Upon viewing the exhibition, Another Magazine stated that "the gown wears beautifully the fragile passing of time – it has enjoyed itself, as it should – yet its intricate couture embroidery remains, bulletproof: you get what you pay for".[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Frost, Karie (30 January 2019). "Princess Margaret's iconic 21st birthday gown goes on display at the V&A's Dior exhibition". Harper's Bazaar.
  2. ^ a b c d e Jessen, Monique. "See Princess Margaret's Epic 21st Birthday Dress on the Anniversary of Her Birth". People. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Katz, Brigit. "Princess Margaret's Iconic 21st Birthday Dress Goes on Display". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Behlen, Beatrice. "Christian Dior, Princess Margaret & Cinderella". Museum of London. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  5. ^ Park, Andrea (31 January 2019). "Princess Margaret's 21st Birthday Christian Dior Gown Is Going on Display at the Victoria and Albert Museum". W Magazine. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  6. ^ Armstrong, Lisa (26 January 2019). "Is Dior the greatest fashion house of the past century?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Petsko, Emily (5 February 2019). "Princess Margaret's 21st Birthday Dress Is On Display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum". Mental Floss. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. ^ Storochuck, Jessica (21 August 2021). "Fashion Favourite: Princess Margaret and Christian Dior". Royal Central. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  9. ^ Hills, Megan C. (February 2019). "The Christian Dior exhibition in London: The story behind Princess Margaret's iconic gown and more". The Standard. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e Mayo Davies, Dean (31 January 2019). "How Christian Dior and Princess Margaret Formed a Fashion Friendship". Another Magazine. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  11. ^ a b Trotter, Katie (20 April 2020). "10 Most Important Fashion Moments in History". Vogue Arabia. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Princess Margaret's 21st birthday dress among star-studded frocks in UK's largest Dior exhibition". ITV. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
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