After ten years of mending, recycling and general making-do, post-WWII women weren’t expecting Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look. Borrowing from the decadence of ballet, Dior brazenly updated the female silhouette and reintroduced luxury to a deprived population. The hand-span waistlines and bouffant Romantic-length skirts paid homage to boned bodices of the Renaissance courts and Barbara Karinska’s powder-puff tutus. Dior insisted on appliqué, beading and embroidery, luxuries that had only been seen on ballet stages for over a decade.

When Dior presented his New Look to traders around Europe and America he faced savage criticism. Fabrics were scarce and economists frowned upon home consumption. The Board of Trade forbade Alison Settle, then editor of British Vogue, to mention Dior in her pages. It was feared that Dior’s New Look would encourage impossible demands, indulgence and social revolution. Looking back on this time Dior said: “War had passed out of sight, and there were no other wars on the horizon. What did the weight of my sumptuous materials, my heavy velvets and brocades matter? When hearts were light, mere fabrics could not weigh the body down.” Dior breathed the glamour of ballet into his New Look collection and brought decadence to the people.

Image: Kirsty Martin in Stephen Baynes’ Raymonda. Costumes by Anna French. Photography Justin Smith

Paris Match, a double bill of tutu delights, plays in in Melbourne from 24 June until 4 July.