Last Chance to Catch Christian Dior at the ROM

The Royal Ontario Museum’s world-renowned exhibition Christian Dior will close on Sunday, March 18, 2018. Presented by Holt Renfrew, this ROM-original exhibition draws from one of the Museum’s most treasured, yet rarely seen collections of textiles and fashion, and features the ground-breaking early designs of famed couturier Monsieur Christian Dior. 

Spanning the years 1947 to 1957, the exhibition explores Dior’s masterful creations which revived the Paris haute couture industry following the Second World War. In 1947, the opening of the new couture house and the presentation of the designer’s revolutionary New Look—with soft shoulders, padded hips, and long, full skirts—swept away the masculine wartime styles. One of the most important designers of the 20th century, Dior’s feminine fashions were desired, worn, and emulated by women around the world. The exhibition showcases more than 100 objects and includes many pieces donated to the ROM by socialites of the period from Montreal and Toronto. 

Since its opening on November 25, 2017, the internationally acclaimed exhibition has resonated with ROM audiences at home and abroad. This stunning retrospective will continue to engage visitors with lectures and programs in the coming weeks. On Friday, February 16, join Dr. Alexandra Palmer, the exhibition’s curator and Nora E. Vaughan Senior Curator, Textiles & Costume for a free lecture that undresses the sources and designs of Dior’s New Look in Christian Dior: The New Look Woman 1947-1957. On Tuesday, February 20, fashion historian Florence Müller will present the exhibition’s closing keynote lecture titled 70 Years of Dior. For more information on program registration, please visit: https://www.rom.on.ca/en/dior. 

Visitors can also experience the exhibition during ROM Winter Fridays.

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ABOUT THE ROM’S TEXTILES AND FASHIONS COLLECTION 
The ROM’s holdings of textiles and fashions are the largest in Canada, and rank amongst the top three collections in the world in size, scope and quality. Counting over 55,000 pieces, the collection is truly global and cross-cultural, ranging from BCE to the present, with spectacular examples from five continents. For the past 100 years, this encyclopedic collection has been recognized as one of the world’s most important and encyclopaedic, a reputation strengthened by pioneering ROM research, exhibitions, and publications.  

ABOUT THE ROM
Opened in 1914, the Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) collections of art, culture, and nature span the globe and range across time. One of North America’s most renowned cultural institutions, the ROM is home to a premiere collection of more than six million objects and specimens, featured in 40 galleries and exhibition spaces. Canada’s largest museum is the country’s preeminent field research institute and an international leader in new and original findings in biodiversity, palaeontology, earth sciences, the visual arts, material culture, and archaeology, the ROM plays a vital role in advancing our global understanding of the artistic, cultural, and natural world. The Renaissance ROM expansion project (2007) merged the iconic architectural heritage of the original building with the Studio Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. A distinctive new symbol of Toronto for the 21st century, the Lee-Chin Crystal marked the beginning of a new era for the ROM as the country’s premier cultural and social destination.