Dior Illustrated: In Words

“To be inspired by Dior is to be inspired by René Gruau.”
John Galliano

Ploughing through the crowds streaming along London’s Strand, she clasped his hand tightly so as not to be plied apart. They bowed their heads against the burning winds, faces frozen with cold. With the weekend train lines operating a partial service, the journey had involved a multitude of different transport options. From overground rail to London’s red buses to overcrowded tubes they had battled their way into the capital. Passing an ongoing protest outside Zimbabwe House they observed a diverse mix of people flanked by white boards with varying slogans plastered across them. People stood to one side taking an assortment of photographs and video footage, but the couple continued forward. Tailored doormen ushered fur-covered guests of the Savoy Hotel into black taxis and groups of barely dressed teenage girls flowed out of the doors of Topshop and Pizza Hut.

Pausing to run into Tesco Express on the corner to grab some lunch, the couple spied a deluge of official cars and police horses fanning out around the juncture they were intending to go down. Exiting Tesco, complete with a £2 meal deal-a-piece, they crossed the road and headed toward their destination, watching as the police vans, cars and horses attended to maintaining a vehicle-free thoroughfare.

Seeing the entrance to Somerset House up ahead, they dove inside the arched passageway and made their way slowly into the courtyard. Standing to one side, they ate their sandwiches, watching as a group of workmen milled around the ice rink that was in the process of being assembled. Pieces of wood were being sawn and lights attached to the towering Christmas tree at the entrance to the rink. The word ‘SKATE’ had been applied in large lettering to the front of Somerset House and lunch eaten they continued down the right-hand side of the rink to the main entrance.


A gaggle of art students huddled together on the steps and the couple navigated past them, coming out into the warmth of the reception. A sign for the exhibition stood centrally, directing them towards the Stamp staircase where they were to follow the imprint of René Gruau’s trademark signature. Like fashion breadcrumbs the black star and symbol led them further and further down into the heart of the building, through a set of glass doors and into the atrium where a line of people was queuing to purchase tickets to the exhibit. She brandished their pre-printed tickets at the woman behind the till and they were ushered through. An introduction to the exhibition provided their first port of call within the empty space of black and cream. It spoke of the instantly recognisable and enduring fashion and beauty images created by Gruau throughout the 20th century and of the artist’s illustrious relationship with his great friend, Christian Dior. The couple read the full text and then turned to ascend the spiral staircase that would take them to the display proper.

On first impression, she was awed by the designs spread out before them along the narrow mezzanine of works on show. He pulled her attention back to the start, directing her to work her way round slowly, absorbing each element individually.


Starting with a collection of works entitled: ‘Flower Woman’, they marvelled at Gruau’s first advertising illustrations for Diorissimo, Dior’s perfume created in 1956. The image revealed the posterior of a woman clothed in a backless elegant black sheath dress, holding a bouquet of flowers. Text accompanying the group revealed Dior explaining his floral theme: “I was drawing flower women, soft, sloping shoulders, generous busts, a slim waist and wide skirts like flower petals.” The images were beautiful, she marvelled, and he too expressed his admiration of the diversity in presentation, from simple monochrome to sinuous floral compositions.

He enjoyed the playful and down-to-earth series for L’Homme Gruau, depicting a man’s hairy legs in a variety of poses and settings in advertisements for Dior’s Eau Savage aftershave. Gruau combined humour and near-nudity to transpose the age-old ideal of the femme fatale.


From the starkly modern illustrations featured in the series for line and silhouette, to the Pop Art-style impressions within gesture and attitude; Gruau’s designs revealed a sharp eye and intuition for coming trends and a wider awareness of the changing cultural landscape.

“I always seek to reproduce what I have come across in life. I record a pose, a look or a smile. It is almost photographic.”
René Gruau

The couple wondered along taking in the extent of works on display, coming to a selection of compositions at the far end of the exhibition that showed pieces created by a handful of modern artists in the guise of Dior’s central themes. Casting their critique on each of the works, they each agreed on one which certainly paid tribute to the exquisite genius of Gruau. She was drawn to a silhouetted sculpted work of black, yellow and white plastic, which revealed the outline of a woman holding an umbrella, while he recognised Gruau’s humour from the Eau Savage adverts, in an illustration by Richard Kilroy which featured a man attempting to extricate himself from his clothes leaving him faceless with just his torso on display.

They made their way along the opposite wall, stopping to admire a set of mannequins, behind glass, encased in various designs by Dior. Listening to the thoughts of other visitors to the works, the general consensus was one of praise and inspiration for Gruau’s flair and insight. The couple made their way out of the exhibition, deeply inspired by René Gruau’s line of beauty so intrinsically captured in the motifs and designs of Christian Dior.