There are few things more emblematic of Parisian elegance than Dior’s Bar Jacket—the standout piece from Christian Dior’s debut 1947 show. Reinterpreted countless times by the likes of John Galliano, Raf Simons, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, and of course, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the signature jacket, which initially took 150 hours to craft, started off with the simple design brief to “slim down the body without losing the waist”. The result was a garment that fundamentally altered how the feminine silhouette would be defined.
From a design perspective, the jacket features a cinched waist married to a basque bodice that flares out directly beneath the cinch. The combination of these two features accentuates the shape of the hips to give an hourglass effect. With soft shoulders, the jacket creates a gentle silhouette, allowing the jacket’s strong open neckline to take centre stage. These features became intrinsically linked with what we now consider as a typical womenswear garment shape.
Left: Suit from Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 1968 collection. Christian Dior by Marc Bohan. © Dior. Right: Suit from Haute Couture Spring-Summer 1987 collection. Christian Dior by Marc Bohan. © Guy Marineau.
Its classical structure has been reinvented in ways which put Christian Dior’s designs into dialogue. Recent efforts by Grazia Chiuri have seen it emerge with more masculine shoulder lines and in swatches of denim and check for Dior’s latest ready-to-wear collection; while the SS20 couture show had the jacket in a dark, slate-coloured tweed. Meanwhile the Galliano-era Dior saw the bar jacket turn maximalist under his signature playfulness, while Simons presented efforts a more minimal re-working. Whatever the case, the design has always maintained a dignified semblance, but this wasn’t always at the expense of fun. Ferré’s interpretations were unapologetically flamboyant and often opted for a dress variant of the jacket.
As a testament to the timelessness of the garment, take a look through some classic runway shots below:
