Journalists nicknamed Christian Dior’s first Paris collection, shown in 1947, the New Look.
Dior presented the collection on 12 February 1947 at his fashion house on Avenue Montaigne. Its rounded shoulders, nipped-in waist, and full, sweeping skirts sharply contrasted with the boxier, fabric-saving clothing common during the Second World War. Carmel Snow, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, reportedly described the designs as a “New Look.”
The phrase became the internationally recognized name for Dior’s postwar silhouette, although Dior himself called the collection the Corolle line. The style used substantial amounts of fabric, making it visually dramatic but controversial during continuing rationing. The New Look helped restore Paris’s reputation as the leading center of haute couture.