--- title: Christian Dior: Rare Photos From the Birth of the 'New Look,' 1948 description: Photos from a Christian Dior show in 1948, when the designer was launching a couture revolution and reinventing high fashion. canonical: https://time.com/3675328/christian-dior-rare-photos/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-02-16T20:46:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:07.542Z og:title: LIFE With Dior: Rare Photos From the Birth of the 'New Look' og:description: Photos from a Christian Dior show in 1948, when the designer was launching a couture revolution and reinventing high fashion. og:url: https://time.com/3675328/christian-dior-rare-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt213422b59f9bd839/69877adbcd1bbac62b6f4bf0/150120-christian-dior-01.jpg?branch=production&width=761&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 761 og:image:height: 428 og:image:alt: Dior, 1948 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LIFE With Dior: Rare Photos From the Birth of the 'New Look' twitter:description: Photos from a Christian Dior show in 1948, when the designer was launching a couture revolution and reinventing high fashion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt213422b59f9bd839/69877adbcd1bbac62b6f4bf0/150120-christian-dior-01.jpg?branch=production&width=761&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Dior: Rare Photos From the Birth of the 'New Look' > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 16, 2012 8:46 PM UTC  Designer Christian Dior in his Paris salon, 1948. Designer Christian Dior in his Paris salon, 1948. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 16, 2012 8:46 PM UTC In March 1948, LIFE introduced its readers to a pioneering French fashion designer and what the magazine called his “revolutionary” vision. The monsieur in question was none other than (in writer Jeanne Perkins marvelous characterization) “a timid, middle-aged, insignificant-looking little Frenchman named [Christian Dior](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian%5FDior),” and the fashion earthquake he unleashed was something called, simply and unforgettably, the New Look. Here, LIFE.com not only offers a glimpse back at a seminal moment in fashion history, but presents pictures — some that appeared in the magazine, many that were never published — by some of LIFE’s finest photographers, taken at a Dior show in Paris in 1948, when the New Look was all the rage and a timid, middle-aged, insignificant-looking little Frenchman astonished and thrilled the _couture_ world. Below is an abridged version of the article that ran in the March 1, 1948, issue of LIFE, beneath the one-word headline: DIOR. --- > “” --- “Three weeks ago,” LIFE concluded, “the new spring showing of Dior models opened in Paris. ‘Chalk up another fast one for Christian Dior,’ exhorted WNBC’s Peter Roberts. ‘Yesterday he let the world in on his ideas for 1948\. And the folks who should know were betting dollars to doughuts he was going to lengthen skirts a little more. But friend Dior shortened skirts! Not much — but shortened. Just one inch. . . .'”  Designer Christian Dior in his Paris salon, 1948. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Latest Dior dresses, now being shown to buyers, show marked Edwardian trend. White evening dress above has old-fashioned corset cover top. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dior fashion show, Paris, 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dior fashion show, Paris, 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dior fashion show, Paris, 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dior fashion show, Paris, 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dior fashion show, Paris, 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Christian Dior with his seamstresses, 1948. Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Paris seamstresses mobbed their boss, Dior, on St. Catherine's Day (Nov 23), the traditional spinsters holiday. Dior is rich, kind and unmarried. Tony Linck—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Dior's home, a fourth floor walk-up in the heart of Paris, is old-fashioned comfortable. Dior decorated it to resemble his parents' home as it was in 1900. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Christian Dior dress, 1948. 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