Lelong

"At thirty, Dior had to start earning a living and first asked his friends for help. They were named Henri Sauguet, Christian Bérard, Max Jacob, Pierre Gaxotte, Francis Poulenc, a youth passionate about the latest discoveries of Cocteau, Satie, or Diaghilev… Sauguet named their group “The Club.” Meeting point: the Tip Toes bar, rue Tronchet, where this youth spends hours gossiping, backbiting, inventing mimed stories while devouring pastries. A marvelous era that of this Paris of the “Roaring Twenties.” Only boredom was banned, and quirkiness served as the theme for the patrons’ balls: Etienne de Beaumont or Charles de Noailles. The fashion was for costumes, a game at which Dior excelled. He had an astonishing gift for turning an insignificant rag into an evocative costume. With a friend, he opened an art gallery, but these young people loved painting too much to make money from it. It was then, on the advice of another friend, Jean Ozenne, that Dior tried his hand at dress sketches: the talent that was accidentally revealed thus led him straight to Piguet, then to Lelong. It was there that destiny came to disturb him!"

"“I have always been interested in haute couture. I needed it for my main business, textiles, and clothing. I had previously followed the creations of Loiret, of Paquin… I wanted to make the street prettier, more attractive. Because it is the fashionable women’s outfits that embellish it. I had founded a small house: ‘Philippe et Gaston,’ on rue Saint-Florentin. In 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Gaston were getting old and asked to retire. I needed a designer. I turned to Lelong, who was president of Haute Couture, whom I knew well: I had provided him with fabric during the time of great shortage. Lelong couldn’t suggest anyone. I turned to Henri Fayol, my general director. He inquired and proposed someone from Lelong, a young designer with a good reputation, Christian Dior. I objected to Fayol that this young man certainly wouldn’t want to leave Lelong for Philippe et Gaston. Fayol insisted. I agreed to meet him.”"