A recreation of Christian Dior for the lady. harris goes to paris

For a new movie Focus Features Mrs. Harris is going to Paris.Based on the 1958 novel by Paul Gallico, costume designer Jenny Beavan sets out to recreate the legendary look of Christian Dior, who revolutionized fashion in 1947 with the introduction of the ‘New Look’ of luxurious wasp lace, full skirts and sloping shoulders. . “Silhouette.

“Oh my God, it was really hard,” says Bevan, who balances Dior’s fascinating history and ever-influential designs that serve as central plot points in the fashion fable directed by Anthony Fabian.

In London in 1957, Ada Harris (Leslie Manville), a heartbroken housekeeper, is enchanted by the flower-applied Dior dress of her aristocratic boss, nicknamed “Ravissante”. for Mrs. Harris, who is still mourning the loss of her husband in World War II, the brilliant tailoring serves as a catalyst for love again as she embarks on a Parisian adventure to protect Dior from her own.

The dress, necessary to court the flower lover Mrs. Harris, reflects the authority of its upper-class owner, Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor), and, most importantly, “must look distinctly Dior,” she says. His third Oscar for his fantastic costumes cruel. So Bevan interpreted a spring-summer 1949 couture cocktail dress that evoked Miss Dior’s perfume bouquet through an abundance of lily-of-the-valley, rose, lilac and unforgettable petals.

For the film (on sale July 15), Bevan had inside access. After Fabiani and the producers got in touch with Dior, the now-owned LVMH house came aboard, welcoming Bevan to its heritage archives. “I had the most fantastic afternoon in Paris with Madame Soizik Pfaff, who is the head of the archives,” says Bevan. During a visit to the temperature-controlled treasury of fashion history, he studied Monsieur Dior’s sketches, fabric samples, runway notes and precious clothes.

“It’s absolutely amazing to see the real thing and look inside to see how Dior made their little corsets and inner bones,” says Bevan.

To his surprise, he could not rely on the expertise of Dior’s in-house couturiers, instead he took on the tedious and real process of producing haute couture. “Clothes take months to make, and we’ve had weeks or days if that’s what it is,” says Bevan, who also cites the pandemic’s challenges in getting the near surplus amounts of expensive fabrics needed for luxury post-production. Dior war. So he brought together the Avengers’ costume designer (and Dior’s construction experts) to build a recreation of Dior from the ground up: costume designer Jane Lowe and Cosprop founder and costume designer John Bright, who shared an Oscar with Beavan in 1985. a room with a view.

Upon arriving in Paris, Ms. Harris practically stormed Dior’s 10th anniversary show with his glam look. Captivated, she dazzles with innovative fashion, starting with a “bar” suit borrowed for the film, along with four mostly black and white pieces from the Dior Heritage collection. The navy and white ‘Puerto Rico’ polka dot worn by the film’s Dior muse Natasha (Alba Baptista) is an immaculate classic from the Bright archives.

Beavan estimates that the team has faithfully reproduced 16 original looks, from the final new dress, a haute couture requirement, to elegant day dresses and surprising evening dresses in subtle tones, such as the elegant aquamarine “Irlande” dress by the film. “[Dior] He was a master of color,” says Bevan.

Bevan also created gorgeous shades for two additional Dior creations that take Harris’ breath away, including a scarlet sequined “Temptation” gown from autumn-winter 1957 and a velvet-embroidered “Diablotine” gown. Haute couture collection.

“I wanted to pay homage to Dior,” says Beavan. “I wanted to make sure it didn’t look like Jenny Bevan’s attempt at Dior. I really wanted people to just believe it and not worry about it. “

This story first appeared in the July 15 issue of The Gossipify. Click here to subscribe.