MONTREAL -- More Montrealers may be dressing down these days while they work from home, but the McCord Museum is giving visitors a taste of high fashion.
A new exhibit is dedicated to the famed designer Christian Dior.
“Dior opened 17 months after World War II. There was still rationing, no textiles and what he was suggesting is the antithesis to wartime style,” said Alexandra Palmer of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Palmer credited Dior with helping to restart many smaller industries that had been dormant during the war.
“There were beaders, embroiderers, textile makers, manufacturers. All these people come together and make the dress,” she said. “You can't have fabulous fashion unless you have access to amazing materials.”
The display includes 40 garments on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, as well as the McCord's own well-preserved collection of 11 dresses.
“The silk satins of the 1950s are today blended with rayon or acetate, modern synthetic fabrics,” said curator Cynthia Cooper. “It's very difficult today to fidn something that replicates fabrics used in that period.”
The Christian Dior exhibition runs until Jan. 3, 2021.
