Christian Dior with fashion model Victoire wearing the "Zaire" dress (Autumn-Winter Haute Couture collection, H line) 1954
Chrita Päffgen was a young model in the mid-1950s, working for French magazines such as* Elle, Vogue, *and *Jardin des Modes. *A few years later, the blonde German beauty would change her name to Nico, become a muse to Andy Warhol, and star in his experimental film, Chelsea Girls. Nico reached icon status when she sang alongside Lou Reed in the Velvet Underground.
Dior creative director Marc Bohan with models from his first collection (Spring-Summer 1961), which was a great success. The prettiness and freshness of his Dior clothes gave an alternative to clients who wanted to be fashionable and look feminine yet feel safe. Bohan’s designs not only implied and flattered the body but never dared to expose or reveal. (Jardin d’Italie, Jardin de Paris, Jardin d’Espagne, and Jardin Anglais dresses, Spring-Summer 1961 haute-couture collection.)
Only a few hours after Shaw snapped this image of Elizabeth Taylor, she won an Academy Award for *BUtterfield 8. *(Soirée à Rio dress, Spring-Summer 1961 haute-couture collection.)
This photograph was taken in the home of Suzanne Luling, Christian Dior’s couture director. Since she was wildly social and extremely popular, her Quai Malaquais apartment was famous for its happening cocktail parties and Sunday-night canasta games that Monsieur Dior attended. (Romance dress, Spring-Summer 1960 haute-couture collection.)
Models in outerwear in 1961. (Jungle, Canada, and Amsterdam models, Autumn-Winter 1961 haute-couture collection.)
Ondine and Ciel de Feu dresses (third and fourth models from the left), from the Autumn-Winter 1961 haute-couture collection.
Sophie Malgat—the wife of film directior Anatole “Tola” Litvak—was one of the rare models who starred on the catwalk and had “cover girl” status in magazine editorials. Shaw photographed her in the Jardin d’Hiver of Christian Dior’s hôtel particulier on Boulevard Jules Sandeau in Paris’s Sixteenth Arrondissement. (Evening dress, Autumn-Winter 1953 haute-couture collection.)
Photo Mark Shaw - Model in Pink Dior - Paris, 1960
Mark Shawn, Dovima in Dior, 1960
Mark Shaw, Jacqueline de Ribes in Dior, 1959
Arts and Culture : Mark Shaw’s Glamour
© Mark Shaw, Dior Glamour, Rizzoli New York 2013, courtesy of mptvimages.com.