THE NEW NEW LOOK

An ambitious reimagining of Dior's iconic Paris premises has fashioned it into a destination for shopping, dining and the celebration of conture.

- HARRY ROBERTS

The title of the recent retrospective 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams' is a fitting sobriquet for the legendary couturier, whose 1947 collection heralded an age of fantasy, femininity and escapism in fashion after the devastation and austerity of World War II. And for more than 75 years since that revolutionary debut - famously dubbed "The New Look" by Harper's Bazaar editor Carmel Snow - 30 Avenue Montaigne has been the address of Dior's dream factory.

Home to the atelier where The New Look was brought to life, and the salon where it was first paraded to rapturous applause, the building is synonymous with the magic of haute couture - that rarefied artform once described by Dior as "the last refuge of the marvellous".

Now, following a major two-year renovation and expansion, the maison has reopened the doors to its spiritual home and unveiled another radical new look: a spectacular flagship set over 10,000 square metres and home to restaurants, gardens and a museum.

Built in 1865 by the illegitimate son of Napoleon I, the four-storey hôtel particulier captivated Dior when he encountered it in 1946. "It had to be 30 Avenue Montaigne," said the couturier, drawn to the understated elegance of the neoclassical facade, as well as its relatively modest scale and proximity to potential clients staying at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée. "I would set myself up here and nowhere else."