Dior Exhibition: Deification of a Luxury Fashion Brand

Hyunkyung Lee, BA International Studies

The Dior Exhibition at London’s V&A Museum is the largest Dior exhibition to hit the UK. Titled “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams”, it begins with the personal history of Christian Dior, followed by the origin of the House of Dior and the chronology of how the fashion brand expanded. The overall flow of the exhibition was logical, and its content was abundant enough to peep into the history of Dior and its designs. “Each exhibition room is like the closet full of splendid costumes”, said an anonymous viewer.

However, the exhibition only elaborated on the designers, and there was a lack of explanation on the designs themselves. Although more than half of the exhibition rooms are full of dazzling dresses, the written explanation on the designers are more specific and lengthy than the description of the fashion pieces. “What I saw was a variety of dresses, but what I learned was the history of the fashion brand”, said another anonymous viewer.
The exhibition deified the designers as artists by focusing more on the background of the designers themselves.

This deification constructed the image that fashion brand products are not the subject of consumption, rather a noble artwork.

The exhibition facilitates the fashion brand’s ability to captivate consumers by making them adhere to luxury brands.

When it comes to the quality of exhibition itself, it is worth the expensive admission fee. The exhibition provides such a feast for the eyes with gorgeous dresses and glittering exhibition rooms. Still, the audience should not be blinded by the visual beauty and have a critical eye on the exhibition while enjoying it.

The show’s popularity has already been proven by high sales of ticket reservations. The reserved tickets were already sold out until mid-June and tickets are buyable on site with limited availability.

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams opened on February 2, 2019 and runs until July 14, 2019 in the Sainsbury Gallery at Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum.

Photo Credit: Hyunkyung Lee