Everyone has his or her own sphere, within which he or she can recognize what have beenthroughout history the turning points that have set unparalleled precedents.

Referring to the world of fashion and thinking in these terms, one cannot help but think of Monsieur Christian Dior, who, in creating his iconic Bar jacket, gave birth to an iconic and timeless garment.

The quintessence of sartorial savoir faire, the Bar jacket is Christian Dior’s pièce de résistance; in fact, it would not be hyperbolic to say that Dior’s Bar jacket never goes out of fashion. Not surprisingly, it is still one of the most celebrated outerwear pieces in the history of women’s wardrobes. So named because it was meant to be worn for cocktail hours spent in the bars of the grand Parisian hotels, the Bar jacket made its appearance on February 12, 1947 as part of Christian Dior’s inaugural haute couture collection, and what might have translated as a mere catwalk became instead a memorable moment for fashion.

It represented a sculptural creation that evoked the curves of the female body and found immediate success with its clean lines, hourglass silhouette, and luxurious fabric. The garment definitively enshrined French elegance with the fashion house label, marking the creative (and vital) momentum of the post-World War II period.

Thus was born the New Look, the antithesis for the austere and utilitarian style of clothes prevalent during the years a[er 1945. The couturier through an exercise in style creates the Bar Suit, a deceptively simple suit, structured on the shape sculpted by pattern making: in fact it is a white satin jacket with soft but well-structured shoulders and a rather open neckline, from which radiates a black pleated floral skirt, while the waist is dramatically cinched thanks to the tailored cut that sculpts the image and is accompanied by a bulbous peplum that unfolds like flower petals above the hips.

It is a silhouette that seems to define elegance, sensuality, modernity, and purity as Paris once again becomes an attractive center for fashion and youth. The Bar Suit is the pure expression of the mingling of different disciplines, a creation that reveals one of Christian Dior’s desires, which was to become an architect devoted to elegance and beauty, intending to give the women of the time a refined and harmonious image that could show the curves of the human body after years of rigor and austerity.

Not a one-season wonder, but a classic to be worn forever, the Bar Jacket became a canvas into which to pour the colorful imagination of designers, who over the years have been able to draw amazing masterpieces from it. Indeed, it has been revisited and reinterpreted by each of the maison’s artistic directors in the decades since, from Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Bohan, to Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano and Raf Simons. And, of course, current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

No other garment has better embodied and embodies the revolutionary femininity of Dior, having lived and continuing to live many lifetimes.

Enjoy even more @ Dior 

Edit by @ Chiara Collu

Editor @ Monaco Woman