I think I would be more suited to the couture side of the business! - Christian Dior

We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers. I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla.

I wanted to be considered a good craftsman. I wanted my dresses to be constructed like buildings, molded to the curves of the female form, stylizing its shape.

In a machine age, dressmaking is one of the last refuges of the human, the personal, the inimitable.