Meet Bobby, the latest it-bag signed by Dior

Timeless allure, obvious curves and character curls, the latest in leather goods from Dior has everything a classic. The flagship bag of the fall collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri marks the return of the satchel, and therefore of a practical and more everyday aesthetic that comes at the right time in an era of return to the essential.

Baptized, “Bobby” he promises to be as faithful to his keeper as a dog to his master. And for good reason, it pays tribute to the canine companion of Mr. Christian Dior. The latter is not his first appearance in the collections of the house on avenue Montaigne. “In each collection there was a supposedly successful tailor called Bobby” tells the couturier in his memoirs. Bobby will also be entitled to a perfume with his effigy.

The aforementioned will have no trouble walking around on the arm of fashionistas this summer. In box calfskin of sublime finesse, it combines the codes of luxury through the details of its manufacture in Florence and the desire for ease of use, with its curves and its handy flap. An it-bag that reveals its secrets on video.

The House Dior was born in October 1946, at the end of the Second World War. At the origin of this new name in French luxury, a 41-year-old man, who grew up in Normandy in Granville before starting a career in art in Paris and training in model making with Lucien Lelong, a couturier in popular during the first half of the 20th century.

The very first parade Dior women takes place on February 12, 1947. Fashion critics meet in the salons of 30 avenue Montaigne, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, at the same address as the boutique Dior Montaigne. After years of war and rationing, the couturier presents a feminine collection, all in volume and particularly modern. So much so that by discovering the silhouettes of Christian Dior, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, Carmel Snow, cannot restrain his enthusiasm and declares to the creator: “Your dresses have such a new look”. The formula is a milestone, and the couturier therefore sets out to develop this New Look, which has as its signature the famous bar suit, this jacket with pegs that imitates women’s hips, worn over pleated skirts.

“I wanted my dresses to be “built“, molded on the curves of the female body of which they would stylize the curve”, explained Christian Dior. Exceptional pieces, therefore, for “flower women”, as the designer called them, in order to brighten up their daily lives after the dark years of the Second World War. For ten years, he continued to draw the contours of this contemporary and elegant woman, until her sudden death of a heart attack, in Montecatini in Italy on October 24, 1957. Foresight, Christian Dior had taken the trouble to indicate the name of the person he wanted to take over. A young man of 21, entered two years earlier at 30, avenue Montaigne, named Yves Saint Laurent. He stayed there until 1960 and earned his nickname “Little Prince of Fashion”, as well as the recognition of the press.

After him will follow Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri. If from the creation of his house, the couturier had launched Dior Perfume, its fragrances, it was not until Marc Bohan and the 1970s that Christian Dior Monsieur (transformed by Hedi Slimane into Dior Homme in 2001) and Baby Dior were born. Times have changed and diversification is required since tailor-made haute couture creations find fewer clients than in the 1950s. Haute couture fashion shows nevertheless remain and continue to this day. Today is the opportunity for the house to present the traditional and prestigious know-how of its workshops workshops Dior avenue Montaigne, as much as to make fashion lovers dream.

And it’s not just haute couture that turns heads. Leather goods also make fans of the leather goods department dizzy and bags of Dior. Among the emblematic models, we must count on the Lady Dior, lady’s bag par excellence, which would have been imagined on order of Bernadette Chirac, then first lady in France, for Princess Lady Diana in 1995. Coming straight from the 2000s, the Saddle Bag, stamped with Dior logo and brought up to date by Maria Grazia Chiuri in 2018, is now seen on the arms of all the girls launched. Same treatment for the tote “Book Tote” that the lucky ones can have personalized with their name.

Luxury house par excellence, Dior Paris had to offer its customers exceptional jewelry collections. With Victoire de Castellane at the helm since the birth of the Dior jewelry department in 1998, the brand presents each year a dozen collections with a colorful image and a flowery universe. The other emblems of the house, such as bees and wind roses, are also part of the vocabulary of Dior jewelry. In 2020, the documentary “Les Bijoux Dior de Victoire de Castellane!” produced by Loïc Prigent recapitulates all the collections produced by the latter.