Ahead of Dior’s show at Trinity College, fashion journalist Bairbre Power joined Arena on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss the French brand’s historical links with Ireland. Listen back above.
Dior, a Parisian Couture House founded by French designer Christian Dior, has been a titan of the fashion industry since its launch in 1946.
The brand made a splash early on, delivering a debut collection to catwalks in 1947, which included two lines – Crolle and En Huit.
However, the show will forever be known as ‘The New Look’, thanks to Irishwoman Carmel Snow.
Originally from Dalkey, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, reportedly coined the nickname when she said: “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian. Your dresses have such a new look.”
Carmel Snow, Editor in Chief of Harper’s Bazaar, attending Dior show in 1955.
Comprised of cinched waists and feminine busts, the inspiration behind this so-called ‘new look’ was rumoured to have come from the “heaving hipline of a female Paris fishmonger”.
Speaking to TIME magazine in 1957, Dior described the design as a response to the bleak, rationed, and uniform years of World War II.
“We were leaving a period of war, of uniforms, of soldier-women with shoulders like boxers. I turned them into flowers, with soft shoulders, blooming bosoms, waists slim as vine stems, and skirts opening up like blossoms.”
1947: Barbara Goalen models an evening dress by Dior
While some criticised the extravagance of his luxury line, launched just two years after the war ended, the designer argued that handmade creations should be venerated.
“In a machine age, dressmaking is one of the last refuges of the human, the personal, the inimitable. In an epoch as sombre as ours, luxury must be defended inch by inch.”
Despite the controversy, Dior quickly became a global success, opening boutiques across the US and Europe – including Ireland.
Christian Dior in 1950
In 1950, the designer landed in Dublin to open a boutique in luxury department store Brown Thomas.
“He brought his models from Paris,” Bairbre Power told RTÉ Radio 1. “So, technically, Dior have shown here, but that would have been a salon show.”
“Christian Dior was very interested in Ireland,” she continued. “When I was in the archives in Paris, I discovered that he had named dresses ‘Irlande’.”
French fashion designer Marc Bohan, the longest-serving artistic director of Christian Dior, who enjoyed a 30-year career at the fashion house, is also said to have worked with Ireland in mind, creating a tweed suit called ‘Paris Dublin’.
“Yes, some of them are green,” confirms Power. “Christian Dior loved the shade of green”.
Christian Dior fashions at Brown Thomas, Grafton Street, Dublin
Decades later, Dior would weave its greatest connection to Ireland of all, when the French fashion house named Derry man Jonathan Anderson as Creative Director.
Initially appointed as artistic director for menswear on April 17, 2025, he was subsequently named Creative Director for womenswear and couture in June, 2025.
The 41-year-old designer who hails from Magherafelt, Co Derry, has shown real pride in his Irish heritage across his work, both for Dior and his eponymous brand, JW Anderson.
Zoe Bleu at Dior show, 2025.
For his debut collection for Dior Homme’s Menswear Ready-to-wear collection in June 2025, he proudly worked with Donegal tweed.
According to fashion historian Laura Fitzachary, this showcase aligned with the Donegal Tweed Association’s continuing campaign to win a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) from the European Union for this fabric.
Other Irish links can be found in Anderson’s line of Dior Book Totes, which includes designs that pay homage to the original covers of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, an Irish Gothic classic, and James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Additionally, lucky four-leaf clovers can be found embroidered into white shirts, added to glasses, and smattered across the Lady Dior Clover Allover bag.
Lady Dior green handbag
Recently, Anderson collaborated with Irish milliner Philip Treacy for his Dior Cruise collection, with the pieces drawing on Dior’s long-standing relationship with cinema, Hollywood stars and artists.
In the notes, Anderson wrote about Christian Dior’s close relationship with cinema, highlighting how two films Dior worked on – Les Enfants Terrible by Jean-Pierre Melville and Stage Fright by Alfred Hitchcock – inspired the Cruise collection.
Some models walked the runway wearing minimalist headwear pieces, spelling out ‘Dior’, ‘Star’ and ‘Flow’, designed by Treacy.
In the show notes, Treacy says: “Working with Jonathan on these pieces felt like revisiting a part of my own history, reworking a technique created for Isabella Blow’s ‘BLOW’ hat into something new for 2026.”
A model on the runway on the runway at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA
All of these Irish connections have seemingly led us to Anderson’s latest announcement – one that set Ireland’s fashion community alight.
The Creative Director took to Instagram to reveal that the Dior Fall/Winter 2027 runway show will take place in Dublin, Ireland.
The show will take place on 4 December in the college’s Old Library. It will be the house’s first-ever runway show in Ireland.
Fittingly, the Instagram post featured an elegant illustration of a four-leaf clover as well as the memorable words of Dalkey woman Carmel Snow: “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian. Your dresses have such a new look.”
Listen to Bairbre Power discuss Anderson’s career and Dior’s connections to Ireland by clicking on the audio above.