Fashion Designers - Stage 3 Comp - Christian Dior - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 3 Unit focus: Fashion Designers Text focus: Information Text Christian Dior Christian Dior was one of the top French designers in the 20th century. He was born in 1905...

STAGE 3 Unit focus: Fashion Designers Text focus: Information Text Christian Dior Christian Dior was one of the top French designers in the 20th century. He was born in 1905 and had six siblings. He was a keen artist from an early age. During the Second World War, designers wanted to keep people interested in fashion. Dior’s artistic skills meant that he found lots of work designing clothes at that time. Once the war was over, Dior created his own fashion label. He created a style known as the “New Look”. He particularly focused on women’s clothing. A er the First World War, North America, France and the UK had their own fashion style. Paris was the centre of the fashion world. During the Second World War, Germany occupied Paris. Many designers le the city, and it lost its position as the home of fashion. During the war, Dior worked for a famous fashion designer called Lucien LeLong. Part of his work involved designing dresses for the wives of Nazi officials and others who supported the German invasion. He never said that he supported the Nazis. The fact that he worked with them has been a sore point for the brand ever since. Paris was liberated in 1944, and the city was determined to bring fashion designers back. Christian Dior was one of the most influential French designers. He launched his “New Look” in Paris. People immediately began flocking to the city for ideas. His range debuted in 1947. During the war, people were restricted by rationing. That meant that they were only allowed certain types and amounts of material for clothes. People were bored with the simple designs. Dior offered them something new and exciting. It may have been called the “new” look, but Dior based his ideas on lots of designs that had been popular before the war. One of the most important parts of his new range was the long, flowing skirts. People weren’t used to using so much material. It was exciting to see something that seemed to use more than it needed to. Dior launched his own fashion house in 1946. He became famous for creating styles that had interesting shapes and silhouettes. The fact that these A designs used so much material wasn’t always popular. There were ding ro Rea und all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com protests when his new range launched. Coco Chanel was another famous designer at the time who hated the “New Look”. It may not have been universally loved, but the “New Look” brought the home of fashion back to Paris. Dior became one of the trendsetters for the next decade. If Dior designed it, other fashion houses followed suit. A young designer named Yves Saint-Laurent took a job as Dior’s assistant in 1955. Dior died of a heart attack in 1957. Saint-Laurent took charge of the company just as Dior had asked. He went on to become one of the most famous designers in the world. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. How many brothers and sisters did Dior have? 2. When was Paris liberated from the German invaders? 3. When was his first range of clothes released? 4. Which designer didn’t like his clothes? 5. Who took over his company when Dior died? VIPERS QUESTIONS S Why was calling it the “new” look not quite true? V Which word is most closely linked to “silhouette”? dress skirt outline V Find and copy a phrase that means “liked by everyone”. I Why might Paris have been grateful to Dior? V What impression do you get of a place from the phrase “Home of fashion”? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com