"May"

Christian Dior|House of Dior

spring/summer 1953 · silk · Costume Institute

Dior reveled in the paradox of the natural and the sophisticated. The most telling example is his frequent self-presentation, not as a man who symbolized the authority of French taste, but rather as a simple gardener, farmer, and mill owner. In "May," flowering grasses and wild clover are rendered in silk floss on organza. This "simple" patterning of meadow-gone-to-weed is composed of the tiniest French knots and the meticulously measured stitches of the hand embroiderer, suggesting that for Dior, it was not only that beauty resides in the most rustic, but also that the most successful artifice is a beguiling naivété.

Artist

Christian Dior|House of Dior

Date

spring/summer 1953

Medium

silk

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. David Kluger, 1960