Cuba
Haute Couture Fall-Winter 1954, H line
Very early on, Christian Dior planned to design collections for his international clientele. Indeed, he started developing subsidiaries abroad as early as 1948. The Cuba look, dress and coat, was part of a collection designed by Christian Dior for an international clientele.
A new company, Christian Dior Models, was established in 1952. It was renamed Christian Dior London in 1954.
This ensemble, designed for the Haute Couture Fall-Winter 1954 collection, was later used in the Christian Dior London collections. The name given to the design is purely evocative as Christian Dior never visited the island. It was later given to other designs, in other collections. Very often, the chosen name revealed more of the couturier’s imagination.
The fashion house set up shop on five continents, and the name Christian Dior became world-famous. The couturier, however, didn’t travel much.
Nevertheless, in 1953, he went on a great trip to Caracas, Venezuela, where he opened his very first shop abroad.
The Cuba design, with a small and elongated bust, followed the principles of the H line. The dress was worn by the model Odile, whose body shape corresponded perfectly to the desired line.
The choice of pink for this design was not insignificant. Christian Dior particularly liked this colour and devoted an entry to it inThe Little Dictionary of Fashion which he wrote in 1954. For him pink was “the colour of happiness and femininity”, and particularly suitable for dresses and coats, like Cuba.
The Little Dictionary of Fashion, Christian Dior
© Laziz Hamani ; © Indivision A. & A. Ostier ; © Mark Shaw/MPTV
