Take a peek inside the home Christian Dior grew up in

You can drive up to the house, tires scrunching on the road as the car toils uphill, but I choose to climb up the steps instead. This is how the young Christian must have climbed, on the days when the weather was fine, and the sea and sand beckoned. The steps start at the edge of a long promenade along the sea, go through a small gate and lead up the cliff. Just short of breathless, I reach the house, that stands almost at the edge.

It is a sturdy pink and grey structure, built to withstand the elements. Dior was a baby in arms when in 1905 his mother, Madeline, took an instant liking to the house and persuaded her husband, the industrialist Maurice Dior, to buy the place. As its mistress, she set about appointing the rooms in her own fashion, in soft colours. And more important to what was to come later, she spent much money, time and effort creating the gardens around the house, filling the ground with rich soil and planting roses, thyme and rosemary, as well as trees, that would scent the air in summer.

There were other luxuries Mme Dior indulged in, to make the place uniquely her own. She had panels painted to imitate Japanese prints that decorated the great staircase of the house right up to the ceiling, and a lounge done up in the Louis XV style. All of it breathed a quiet but sure luxury. Secure in its lap, Christian spent the first five years of his life, dreaming, reading, and sometimes tip toeing into his father’s forbidden office room to stare at the mysterious object that could carry voices of unseen people to his father’s ears… the telephone. Later, when the family moved to Paris, he would visit his Granville home during the vacations, settling in with the comfort of returning to a well known embrace. Mother and son continued to embellish the house. At 15, Christian designed a small pond to fit into his mother’s rose garden.

Perhaps because it was the first of the homes he knew and loved, and was entwined with memories of his mother, Les Rhumbs remained a constant memory in the designer’s mind. When war broke out in 1914 and the Dior family decided not to return to Paris but remain tucked into the safe confines of the mansion, the house must have seemed even more of a haven, a place to retreat to. The fact the fact that the reverses in his father’s fortune in 1932 forced him to sell the house putting holidays in Granville out of reach, made the memories all the more precious. Little wonder then, that the designer would write in his autobiography, “I have most tender and amazed memories… of my childhood home. I would even say that my life and my style owe almost everything to its site and architecture.” And indeed, the pink and grey that he used so often, the ”women-flowers“ he drew as sketches for his dresses, with “soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla,” and the perfumes from the House of Dior with the scent of rosemary, or of pines tossing in the sea wind, bear testimony to the inspiration the house provided.

As we enter the building, which is today the Christian Dior Museum, it is exciting to know that we will be among those privileged to view the exhibition that was set up as recently as in April last year, titled Treasures of the Collection: 30 Years of Acquisitions. The Museum has an exhibition on for a few months every year, showcasing the designer’s work.

As we walk though the rooms on the ground floor, it is as if time stands waiting here, holding on to an era gone by. Photographs of an aunt in flowing silks that cling to her waist and blossom out around her hips, and a black and white childhood photo of Christian posing with a friend, hold my attention. In a sun-lit alcove facing the garden, the lucky star that Christian Dior found on Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore is enshrined. The star had fallen off a carriage wheel, and Dior picked it up taking it up to be a sign of good luck and the signal to take up the offer to launch his own label. It remained his most precious talisman through his life.

Each room tells a different story. The Living Room and the Dining Room have photographs of the costumes made by the designer for theatre and cinema between 1937-1953. Up the stairs, on the first floor, it’s time now to stop and peer through the glass window half way up the stairs, which offers a wonderful glimpse of the blue sea just beyond. Upstairs, the exhibition opens up to showcase some of the iconic dresses that make the Dior style unique.

Christian’s sister Jacqueline Dior’s room has the early work from 1947 onwards, where under his own label, the designer created architectural couture, indulging his love of construction. Here then are the first results of his love of the curve of the human body. The inspiration of his mother Madeline’s elegance was a constant part of the inspiration.

In the room that was once his own, showcases display the art of embroidery. Dior used the skill of the best embroiderers of his time to embellish his garments, creating quiet luxury on silk and satin as deftly as his mother had on the walls of her home. Many embroidery samples of clothes are richly decorated on the upper part and diffuse as it descends, a style distinctive of Rebe, with whom the designer collaborated from 1947-1966.

The other sister, Catherine’s room showcases the accessories. Hats, jewellery, scarves, gloves were intrinsic elements of the Christian Dior signature. His women had to be dressed in every aspect.  Gloves, especially, were symbols of sensuality and elegance; perfect complements to his dresses. Then there are the shoes, which were important to the designer because he believed, “it is by the feet that you can judge whether a woman is elegant or not.” He collaborated, again, with the best in the business, Ferragamo among them.

The exhibits all stand behind imposing glass cases, each dress and artefact lit individually. The light catch the dull gleam of taffeta, the sheen of silk, the shine on a pearl ornament or sometimes the gauzy detail in a lace edging. The colours range from soft, romantic pinks to seductive reds and imposing maroon. Then there are the playful dresses, bows and all. Everything was touched with pure elegance.

On another floor, the piece de resistance awaits the visitor. Created specially for the museum is this collection of miniatures of Christian Dior’s most iconic creations down the years—30 haute couture dresses created in perfect miniature by the Dior fashion workshops. Literally the designer’s creative history all encapsulated in a single glass case.

The exhibition is without doubt a fashion lover’s delight.

As I walk out into the cold November air, and the sound of the wind and the sea rushes up to meet me, a bar of sunlight streams through the evening clouds. I can imagine the now-bare gardens rich with flowers, and the hum of bees. I could imagine the fragrance reaching out to a young boy of five, as he steps out into the summer day. I carry the image with me, as I get into the car that is picking me up to carry me back to reality.