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The True Fashion Bible
I
t is possible for a
woman to be elegant
without spending
very much money on her
clothes,” Dior writes in the
introduction to his ‘The Little
Dictionary of Fashion’ which
was first published by Cassel
& Co Ltd in 1954. Dior’s
daint dictionary is comprised
of twenty-three chapters, if
you like, that represent the
alphabet (U and V are in the
same chapter and X,Y and Z).
Each of these chapters talk
about fashionable words that
begin with that letter and
give the woman reading it
advice on how to dress in
all manners of ways, from
Accessories to Satin to The
Way You Walk; Dior doesn’t
skip anything out.
However, we must bear in
mind the fact that some of
this advide is somewhat
dated, such as Dior’s view
on hats: “I think that in town
you cannot really be dressed
without a hat,” he says.
Hats nowadays are purely
comprised of snap-backs,
beanies and fedoras which
I’m sure Dior would turn in
his grave if he knew that.
On the other hand, there is
a lot of timeless advice in
this book, such as wearing
furs to match them to your
colouring. If you have light
hair wear a light fur and vice
versa. This is the same rule
for shades of grey and beige.
Dior believes there is nothing
better for clothes than the
colours black, grey, navy
and beige. Brighter colours,
he says, should be saved for
accessories, as then you can
keep your oufits versatile
and not getting bored of
a colourful and patterned
dress.
I cannot stress enough that
with this book it is about
taking what you want from
it and if you are bound by
your own fashion rules you
will not learn very much.
The important thing when
reading something like this
is to remember that the
author is usually right when
it comes to the technicalities
of fashion, especially an
author as famed and adored
as Christian Dior, one of the
best couturiers in the past
century. Whether you take
everything they write on
board is another matter. †
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