How to tell if Christian Dior is vintage

How to tell if Christian Dior is vintage

Christian Dior, the namesake of one of the world’s preeminent luxury fashion houses, is regarded as one of the greatest fashion designers in history. Although his name is now synonymous with high end fashion, in Dior’s early career he began by designing alongside other fashion designers such as Robert Piguet, Pierre Balmain and Marc Bohan. Unfortunately for Dior he was brought away from his love of fashion design after being called up for military service. This period was very influential on Christian Dior’s design ethos, citing Robert Piguet as one of the most important figures in highlighting the elegance of simplicity. During WWII Dior was an employee of the Lucien Lelong fashion house and controversially was required to design dresses for the wives of high-ranking Nazi officers and prominent French supporters of the regime. In contrast to this Christian Dior and his family strongly opposed the Nazi occupation of France, and his sister Catherine Dior was apprehended by the Gestapo as a member of the French Resistance and sent to a concentration camp. To honour his sister, in 1947 Dior named his first fragrance ‘Miss Dior’.

Dior’s early designs were received very well, in particular his ‘Café Anglais’ dress. This success was noticed by the richest man in France at the time, Marcel Boussac. Marcel initially offered Dior the opportunity to design for Phillipe et Gaston, however Dior turned the offer down, instead choosing to launch his own fashion house. Marcel was so convinced by the talent of Christian Dior he backed him in this venture. Although the excessive amount of fabric and design features Dior used received mixed reviews upon release, in the years following the style known as the ‘New Look’ would re-establish Paris as a global centre of fashion. In 1955, Dior invited 19 year old Yves Saint Laurent to become his design assistant, and would soon pronounce Laurent as his successor. In a true tragedy, Christian Dior died in 1957 of a heart attack whilst playing cards on vacation in Italy.

This started a new era of the company, Dior without Christian Dior. And this left the House of Dior in complete disarray, with management even considering shutting down the company. This possibility was rebuked by many of Dior’s partners and the wider fashion industry as the company had become too important within the sector to simply cease existence. In a desperate attempt to give Dior new direction, Yves Saint Laurent was appointed as the Artistic Director. His continuation of Christian Dior’s style, combined with modern lightweight fabrics that were easier to wear, were critically acclaimed and Laurent was hailed as a national hero for breathing life back into the fashion house. However, Yves Saint Laurent’s 1960s designs fell flat, and the bohemian style was not appreciated by the fashion world. So, when Laurent was enlisted for national service, management at Dior was quick to appoint Marc Bohan as successor. Marc Bohan is widely credited with reviving the brand and bringing it to the forefront of daily wearable fashion. Other ready to wear lines such as Miss Dior and Christian Dior Homme were launched under the guidance of Marc Bohan.

After the parent company of Dior fell into bankruptcy, French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault bought it for just one franc. Bernard restructured the company, choosing to focus on Dior Couture and Bon Marche lines, liquidating Dior’s textile operations. His next move was to position Dior as a holding company which would acquire a stake Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, making it the world’s foremost luxury goods company. The 1990s saw Dior wrestle back control of many aspects of its operations such as its licence and store ownership deals. At the same time, newly appointed head designer John Galliano was modernising the brand, with his risqué sexualised advertising often being seen as one of his lasting legacies at the fashion house.

This guide will explain how we use a combination of logos, tags, and other product information to see if a piece is vintage.

How to tell if Christian Dior is vintage from the logo

The Versace logo immediately arouses notions of quality, exclusivity, and sexuality. And whilst this is how the design is perceived by many nowadays, the origins of the design come from Gianni Versace’s proud southern Italian heritage, and Graceo-Roman art, hence the Medusa head. Over the years Versace has intermittently updated their logo, and whilst old logos are still sometimes used on newer designs in reference to the company’s legacy, by observing the date of logo changes many Versace items can be ruled out as not vintage.

1948 to now vintage Christian Dior logo

• The first Versace logo was a simple text logo referencing the founder and head designer himself
• The font is thin and elegant, with only the G and V capitalised
• The text has very little spacing between the letters
• It is monochrome

2018 to now vintage Christian Dior logo

• The next logo used the same structure and was simply text
• The font is blocky, and a similar font is used to this day
• All the text is capitalised and the same height with relatively even spacing
• It is monochrome

Christian Dior logos through the years - The history of the Christian Dior logo

How to tell if Christian Dior is vintage from the tags

In recent years, Dior has successfully adapted the brand and line of products to reflect growing trends towards streetwear and practical luxury clothing. The recent SS23 Dior collection is a great example of how far the brand has come. Instead of opulent dresses that flow endlessly, Dior’s most recent collection caters for the high end hiker, with hybrid designs that combine the practicality of The North Face with the design quality and desirability of Gucci.

Although the designs and silhouettes of Dior has changed a lot as different designers and trends have passed through, these are not the best features to observe to try and tell if your Dior is vintage. The tags are often the best port of call, as they have been updated over the years. However, just before you jump ahead to the tags below, here’s something to bear in mind that might give you an early indication if your Dior is vintage. If the wash tags are polyester and contain a lot of information, maybe even in multiple languages, this is a good indication that the piece is modern. An example of this can be seen below. But if you're still struggling to figure it out after looking at the below tags, you can submit your tags here for us to have a look at and try and investigate.

1950s vintage Christian Dior tags

• Nearly all the tags, starting from the 1950s, use the full Christian Dior name and logo
• They were white rectangles, sometimes with pointed ends
• The text is black
• Many of the tags refer to cities which are fashion capitols such as Paris, New York, and London
• These tags, like many Dior tags until the 1990s, did not include sizing information

1960s vintage Christian Dior tags

• Many sub brands such as Miss Dior, Dior Boutique, Monsieur X and Chapeaux launched in the 1960s
• Generally, tags remained the same shape and size, however some other colours and different font were used, especially for the sub brands
• The current Dior logo was also used on some neck tags in the 1960s, however they can easily be distinguished from new ones as they include a lot more information
• Up until the 1990s, the vast majority of Dior was either manufactured in France or England

1970s vintage Christian Dior tags

• These tags nearly always have the logo at the top
• Many of them started using a grey or silver thread for the text
• They were white rectangles, with some exceptions for sub brands such as Miss Dior

1980s vintage Christian Dior tags

• The tags started to become more uniform in design
• A consistent size and shape were used for the tags
• With the text being black
• They stopped including as much information about production country and composition

1990s vintage Christian Dior tags

• Loop tags were introduced in the 1990s
• They often had the sizing on them or on an extra tab attached to them
• Extra labels with composition and care information started to be included
• The text on these was often sewn in and is pixelated as a result

2000s vintage Christian Dior tags

• Christian Dior sports started to circulate a lot more in the 2000s
• Loop tags were also used in the 2000s, but generally stopped being used after this time
• Sizing is attached on an extra tab on the neck tag

2010s vintage Christian Dior tags

• Recent Dior tags include the new logo, which is all capitalised
• The text is silver on a white rectangle
• And it is only sewn in on the corners
• Sizing and other information is included on a small tab and polyester wash tags at the waist as pictured

Vintage Christian Dior tags through the years - The history of Christian Dior tags