Marc Bohan, the longest-serving creative director at Christian Dior, who spent nearly 30 years spinning out classically attuned looks with a touch of whimsy that, however resplendent, were meant to be worn, not gazed at on mannequins or in fashion magazines, died on Wednesday in Châtillon-sur-Seine, France. He was 97.
His death was confirmed in a statement by Dior.
Because he worked in an era before fashion became mass entertainment, Mr. Bohan was not required to be visionary. And surviving for decades at the upper reaches of the fickle fashion world, with its unceasing scrutiny, merciless critics and head-spinning fashion cycles, he showed little interest in coming up with grandiose couture creations that functioned more as sculpture than practical apparel, no matter how sumptuous or bejeweled his own work was.
“I’m not designing to please myself or for a photograph,” he told USA Today for a 1988 profile. “I am designing for a woman who wants to look her best. I have always in mind the reaction of women I know.”
Courtly, taciturn and immaculately dapper even by the standards of midcentury Paris, Mr. Bohan was 34 when he was appointed head couturier for the House of Dior in 1960, taking over for the maverick Yves Saint Laurent. Mr. Saint Laurent, then in his early 20s, had been called up by the French Army during the Algerian war for independence.
The post was supposed to be temporary, Women’s Wear Daily wrote in 2007, but it became permanent after Mr. Saint Laurent — who would go on to launch his own fashion powerhouse — suffered a nervous breakdown during his military service.
Mr. Bohan remained at the helm through the 1980s, guiding Dior longer than Christian Dior himself had. (Mr. Dior founded his first salon in 1946, turned it into a
Strange Way of Life, by Madrid director Pedro Almodovar, is the first short film produced by the Saint Laurent (Kering) production company. Released in cinemas on 16 August 2023, the film stars signature costumes by the luxury brand and a sleek aesthetic.
The story follows two cowboys, played by Ethan Wake and Pedro Pascal, who are pitted against each other by life (the former is a sheriff searching for the latter’s murderous son) but who have been united by passion for 25 years.
This queer western is the first film laurent-announces-launch-of-production-company/2023041368978″produced by Saint Laurent Productions, which was created on 22 February 2023 as a subsidiary of the fashion house. While its primary focus is on the production of films for the cinema, according to the company directory, the company does not have any employees.
The tone is set by Saint Laurent Production on the film’s poster and in its first credits panel, where it states “Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello presents” a film by Almodovar. The brand acts as associate producer, and thus holds the rights to the film. It is also responsible for the costumes. This is a step up from sponsorship (product placement), which is financing to appear on screen, but which does not confer any rights.
This is the case, for example, of Almodovar’s second short film, The Human Voice, starring Tilda Swinton, which succeeds the western. In the introductory scene, we clearly recognise Balenciaga’s ball gowns (a futuristic red crinoline from the spring/summer 2020 collection), then a jacket by Dries Van Noten, an enormous bottle of Chanel number 5, and finally, we hear a “where’s my Chanel bag?”.
What kind of artistic freedom is there when a brand produces a film?
In reality, it is the same as when an entrepreneur or
The term muse has been a part of WWD’s vocabulary since the early 1900s. Fashion would define the term as a guide, a source of influence and inspiration. While the relationship between creator and muse will always evolve, the latter can be credited with helping fashion’s leading creatives and brands realize their visions.
Art, for one, ranks among fashion’s most respected inspirations. Paul Poiret couture costumes brought art into fashion in the early 1900s as the exotic renderings of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes and the Art Deco movement took hold of the cultural zeitgeist in Paris. Collections from brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Halston, Christian Lacroix, Issey Miyake, Viktor & Rolf, Marc Jacobs and Prada continue to be inspired by the work of artistic masters from Picasso to Andy Warhol, Keith Haring to Koons, Murakami and more.
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Some of the most notable collaborations Marc Jacobs photograph by George Chinsee; Versace by Emanuelle Sardella; Moschino by Aitor Rosas Suñé include Yves Saint Laurent’s homage to Mondrian in his Fall/Winter 1965 Couture collection, which WWD noted at the time as “sort of a revolution.” Saint Laurent brought a modern edge to the couture and spoke to a new generation of young fashionistas. A decade later, Halston paid homage to Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock with prints inspired by the artists’ works in his 1974 spring and resort collections. Some say art and fashion is a marriage made for the runway. As art evolves in the cultural zeitgeist, the juxtaposition of art and fashion will no doubt continue to create moments worthy of note.
Launch Gallery: Inside the Archive: When Fashion Taps Art As Muse
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Everything new in women’s fashion this May 2023 that we’ve had our eyes — and our hearts set — on.
This month, we asked the heavens for the assistance of fashion’s heroic muses – and, lo and behold, these silk-clad Valkyries marched down from the sky, with leather capes flowing like mighty flags, cavalier boots shining like polished marble and metal cuffs coiled around their wrists.
Shop: New in Women’s Fashion this May
Saint Laurent
Shoulder pads upon shoulder pads, hoods plunging into vertiginously low necklines and an elusive air of regal suavité are the attributes employed by Anthony Vaccarello for his Saint Laurent spring/summer 2023 collection. His runway heroines become knights readying themselves for battle with leather for armour and silk for chainmail.
Boyy
The esteemed status of extreme maxi bags has remained a subject of infatuation in high fashion, and Boyy has taken this romance to new heights. Its Bobby edition boasts vast pockets and buckles the width of the Nile, along with a spacious structure that could easily carry the weight of a toddler – or maybe even two.
Monse
Around 100 years ago, Coco Chanel freed women from the oppressive confines of corsets and emboldened them with trousers. Today, MONSE has created a daring convergence between the two extremes by perfectly merging function and allure with its corset trousers. They softly hug the curves of your waist while also letting sheer panels peek out beneath as you walk by – an essential instrument of modern teasing.
Balenciaga
Balenciaga’s Cagole boots invite you to become a chivalrous knight of old while – somehow simultaneously, embarking on a journey to the boundless frontiers of space exploration. Two disparate realms united by a single pair – made from iridescent ivory arena lambskin with fastenings like thimbles –
I admit: I never entirely drank the Karl Lagerfeld Kool-Aid. I was not one of those critics (and there were some) who would clutch their breast, shriek “genius!” and swoon after every show.
I often felt that for every extraordinary piece the designer created for Chanel or Fendi — by the time I started in fashion, his career at Chloé was at an end — there would be another clunker of a dress or a suit: unflattering, frumpy, kind of awkward. I found the set-building he did for his Chanel shows in the latter years (the supermarkets, rocket ships and icebergs in the Grand Palais) not just a smart social media move (which it was) but too often an egregious display of a bottomless budget and sleight of hand to distract from what was on the runway. Sure, that tweed sweatsuit made that model look like a Real Housewife — but everyone was looking at the double-C branded pasta on the faux megamart shelf instead!
Once I got spoken to by the Chanel press office for not fully “understanding” Lagerfeld’s vision. But as I wrote in the designer’s obituary (he died in 2019), while he unquestionably changed the business of the industry — its marketing, its branding, its very structure — thanks to his ability to take on a heritage house like Chanel and reinvent it with the detritus of its own codes, I didn’t think he really changed wardrobes. He didn’t give the world a new silhouette, or an expression of identity, the way Coco Chanel herself did, with the bouclé suit, or Christian Dior, with the New Look, or Saint Laurent, with Le Smoking, the tuxedo suit for women.
All of which is to say that when I heard the Metropolitan Museum of Art would