1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Dior's "Vilmiron" dress refers to what?

Discussion in 'PUBLIC Vintage Fashion - Ask Questions Get Answers' started by amandainvermont, Jan 21, 2021.

  1. amandainvermont

    amandainvermont VFG Member

    I am about to post this amazing dress to the VFG Instagram page and I wanted to do more research about it. It is a 1952 dress named "Vilmiron" by Dior. This spelling is repeated all over the internet (therefore it is correct, right :) ? )

    I wondered if it was a vocabulary word I didn't know, or a place in France? There is a long-time seed company in France called Vilmorin. Louise de Vilmorin was an heir to that seed company and she had quite a biography - she was an author engaged to novelist and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; at one point. She married Jessie Hunt, who owned most of Las Vegas. She next married Paul Pálffy ab Erdöd (a Hungarian playboy.) It was his fifth marriage. She was then a mistress for a number of men and spent the last years of her life as the companion of the French Cultural Affairs Minister and author André Malraux.

    So I'm assuming it's a typo? Amazing what you can find online....

    There is a piece, "Dior Before Dior" that Google says mentions Louise de Vilmorin, but I can't access it.


    close.jpg

    Someone else take the next step?
     
  2. poppysvintageclothing

    poppysvintageclothing VFG Board Member Staff Member VFG Past President

  3. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

    Not the faintest idea... it's not a French word as far as I know... even the Met's homepage calls it that, so it must be right.
     
  4. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    I'm inclined to agree with you about the typo theory, Amanda. I just found this April 2020 article from Vogue UK about Dior's life long love of gardens. Among other tidbits:
    "Christian Dior spent most of his childhood in Villa Les Rhumbs, a seaside house near Granville in Normandy, whose gardens were transformed into the lushest of Edens by Christian’s mother, Madeleine. He was an avid attendant to his mother’s horticultural pursuits and is said to have raced to meet the postman delivering seed catalogues from the seed company Vilmorin-Andrieux, just so he could pore over their tempting pages."
     
    denisebrain and GemGem like this.
  5. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    And this one, from a website called martelnyc-dot-com refers to the dress as Vilmorin, and shows a closeup of the fabric

    Edited to add: it looks like Martel lifted most - if not all - of that article from "Christian Dior: The Magic of Fashion" 1994 exhibit at Powerhouse Museum in Australia. It too refers to the dress as Vilmorin.
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2021
    denisebrain and GemGem like this.
  6. Rue_de_la_Paix

    Rue_de_la_Paix VFG Member

    "Even the Met's homepage calls it that, so it must be right."


    This is so interesting, and the dress is stunning and so incredibly detailed. The MET has been wrong before, there are a number of errors on their site, and they really did not do the research on this one but just lifted it from somewhere else. It has to be Vilmorin, there seems to be no doubt to my mind.
     
    GemGem, Racked Vintage and MagsRags like this.
  7. poppysvintageclothing

    poppysvintageclothing VFG Board Member Staff Member VFG Past President

  8. GemGem

    GemGem Registered Guest

    Omg, I love watching these threads develop. It's like a mystery unfolding. Great story! How exciting! and what a beautiful dress!
     
    MagsRags likes this.
  9. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    Here is the excerpt from the article you are looking for. Please do not reproduce it as it is under copyright
    5E735195-2EF2-422F-91A1-BDBE2750751F.jpeg
     
  10. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    I also found this which definitely establishes the reason for the naming to relate to the botanical connection that Maggie also found.

    “For Spring-Summer 1952, featuring designs with names such as called 'Coquelicot', 'Bleuet', 'Dahlia', 'Jonquille' and 'Bourgeon', the 'Vilmorin' dress – paying tribute to this botanical fascination – comes to life in a white chiffon in full bloom.”
     
  11. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    Last edited: Jan 23, 2021
  12. Midge

    Midge Super Moderator Staff Member

    Wow, you nailed it, Victoria! Hadn't thought about the MAD, I only checked the Galliera :BAGUSE:, which turned up nothing, and all other hits I kept getting were from the Met or obviously copied/reposted from there... I would have thought they would get things right, but obviously not, and everybody thinks the same, so here we go... :duh2:.
     
  13. amandainvermont

    amandainvermont VFG Member

    Well.... just .... wow - thanks to Victoria and all. I will have the spelling changed!
     
  14. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    I thought this dress looked familiar - I saw it in person at the Met's Manus x Machina exhibit in May 2016.

    It was my first visit to NYC. DH grew up there and, given that we had embarked on a serious longterm relationship, I needed to meet his adult son and granddaughters. He was very pleased to take me for my first Met experience , but he was bored and ready to be done long before I was!
    IMG_1394.JPG
    I see from the Met website that there is a matching cap. Download is disabled, so I can't post it here.
     
  15. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    How wonderful! It does look extremely familiar to me as well but I can’t place where I have seen it. I thought maybe I did see it in Paris at the MAD but I checked the photos I took and it wasn’t in any of them
     
  16. amandainvermont

    amandainvermont VFG Member

    Gosh. I never saw the gown. I did see the matching cap on Pinterest, downloaded from the museum's site I assume. Tempted to share here, but nervous. The thread that keeps giving!
     
  17. MagsRags

    MagsRags VFG President Staff Member

    No download mechanism that I could find. Most likely a cropped screenshot.
     
  18. Vintagiality

    Vintagiality VFG Treasurer Staff Member

    I am able the just copy and paste it
    [​IMG]
     
    Vinclothes and MagsRags like this.

Share This Page