By Stephanie Warren

Inspiration Dior, the major exhibition at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, is a unique dialogue between artists such as Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, Cézanne and Dior creations.

Rewind - February 12th, 1947: Christian Dior presents his first collection at Avenue Montaigne. The revolution is underway and the New Look is born. With it, The House of Dior enters the world of legend.

Unknown until that moment, the genius designer who revered the French way of life entered a triumphant decade, providing women with regal bearing and a sublime look. Skirts were longer, shoulders were softened and waists were cinched.

A Dior flower-women blossomed in the post-war era, and outrageously splendid, was soon to conquer the world with infinite grace.

Today - April 28, 2011: New and highly innovative, the exhibition demonstrates how inspiration has nourished the heart of Dior for decades. This amazing journey guides the visitor through the Dior artistic creative sources of fashion and its links to history, nature, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and film. It reveals now an idea, a feeling, an era, a garden, a perception or even a smell can instill an idea in the heart and mind, giving rise to a unique creation.

In this major exhibition, the Pushkin Museum showcases Dior magic and luxury whilst emphasizing the outstanding House’s links with art.

Left: Embroidered grey pinstriped jacket worn over yellow velvet bra, Fall-Winter 2003-2004 Haute Couture collection.
Right: John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), La Carmencita, c. 1900. Oil on canvas, 232 x 142 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

The key themes of the Dior legend – past and present on a grand scale in original fashion, set against unique works of art. It is a journey of corresponding elements and magical synergies, where the New Look is echoed in works by Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, Cezanne or even Gauguin. Nudes by Vanessa Beecroft, Maurizio Cattelan and Orlan emphasise the gloriously modern lines of the female body, accentuated by Christian Dior.

Left: Suzurka-San coat, Spring-Summer 2007 Haute Couture collection. Hand-painted, embroidered white linen coat. Christian Dior collection.
Right: Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa. From the serie “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji”. Reprint of 1948. Color woodblock print. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. © Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.

This waltz through time enchants the visitor with lush gardens and recollections of the 18th century and the Belle Époque. Marie-Antoinette meets Jeff Koons, Bonnard’s landscapes celebrate Dior’s flower-women and the Egyptian goddesses from spring summer 2004 establish a radiant, golden destiny.

The Dior grand balls are also celebrated in all their glory in an enchanted setting where Ingres’ aristocrats admire breathtaking crinolines and haute couture gowns. The visitor is then transported around the world with Dior via Goya’s Spain, Matisse’s heady orient and of course, Russia and Asia.

Right: Black-and-white silk faille coat worn over a white leotard and black-and-white white linen skirt. Spring-Summer 2002 Haute Couture collection. Christian Dior collection.
Left: Kazimir Malévitch (1878-1935), Woman with a Rake, c. 1928-1932. Huile sur toile, 100 x 75 cm. Galerie Tretiakov, Moscou.

The world of Dior beauty also provides the opportunity to view René Gruau’s strikingly modern illustrations and allows the Russian plastic artist, Olga Kisseleva to create an installation exploring the sensual and sensory universe of Dior perfumes.

A mirror effect of deliberate similarities lays down the framework of this exceptional exhibition, in which the quest for ideal beauty creates the link between Christian Dior, genius couturier, and the impressive and unexpected gallery of great masters.