ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: Colors by Dior

This summer Dior unveils Christian Dior's favorite color palette, which brightened up his flower women with shades drawn from nature. In this post, the spotlight is turned on red, the color of a fully lived life and the very essence of Dior.

Bright, cheerful and bold, the fashion of Christian Dior is rich in color. “Why deprive fashion and women of the prestige and the charm of color?” he asked. The color of love and life, red bursts forth from Christian Dior’s very first collections. From poppy red to geranium red, starting in 1947, suits, dresses and coats were cut in the color of the couturier’s favorite flowers. Bright, strong and unmistakable, the red used at Dior quickly became “Dior red”, a color that surpassed all others, used by the couturier to jolt his public during mid-presentation of his collections on flaming outfits he called “Trafalgar” in reference to the powerful contrast they created in his pearl-gray Avenue Montaigne salons. The color of seduction and passion, it drove the couturier to create his first lipstick in 1955 as a way to further embellish feminine beauty, carrying the delicious Dior red all the way to the lips.

In his Little Dictionary of Fashion, published in 1954 by Cassell, Christian Dior speaks of red in these terms:

“Very invigorating and attractive, it’s the color of life. I love red. In my opinion, it works with almost every skin tone. And it can be worn at any time of the day. Bright reds – scarlet, English red, crimson or cherry – are full of youth and gaiety. There’s one for everyone, and if you don’t want red for a dress or a suit, you can at the very least use it for accessories: a red hat is paired to great effect with a black or gray ensemble, as is a pretty silk scarf on a cream dress or a red umbrella with a gray coat.”

Carmine red, satin red, fiery red, today red continues to light up the House’s creations. It enflames the strap of the Dior Christal watch, kindles the crocodile leather of a Lady Dior bag, reddens cheeks, lips and nails. For his first haute couture show this past July, Raf Simons expressed his own love affair with red, showing these dresses and this coat in the color of true passion.