The story of The New Look approaches its conclusion, with Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) still dealing with loss and pressure before launching his Maison into the world. In a still-suffering post-war era, the episode says goodbye with a look that had already been seen in the first episode, and which, obviously, generates emotion: the iconic “bar suit”, the most famous model from his debut collection in 1947.

Known for his perfectionism, in the Apple TV Plus series we find a hesitant Dior, in constant personal conflict that interferes with his creativity, something that becomes even more risky when he is about to launch his own brand. With the opening date of his Maison approaching, he still doesn’t have his collection 100% defined. He knows that what is missing is “the” piece.

Inspiration comes once again from pain and family pressure. After the Diors’ business failed at the hands of their father, at least in The New Look, there is more distrust in the family than support in the venture. Before dying, Christian’s father asks him to visit his brother in a nursing home, which the designer does, despite being very busy and with a tight work deadline. Bernard recommends that Christian let the light shine within himself. When he does so, it is precisely the ‘bar suite’ that appears on paper. The piece with which Dior defeated the darkness.

The detail is the jacket, not the skirt

The series’ approach is curious because, in truth, the legend is more in line with the name of the play and makes more sense. The inspiration for the Bar Suit would have come to Dior in the bar of the Plaza Athénée hotel, in Paris, where he often went. Yes, because the detail of the piece is the top, not the skirt.

With a cinched-waist silhouette, the Bar Suit is considered an architectural marvel. The jacket is made from four meters of shantung silk in a soft ivory tone, quilted at the hip line to maintain a more rounded feminine shape with hand-sewn self-covering buttons. Yes, completing the look is the pleated and voluminous black “Corolle” skirt, which to this day also takes our breath away.

For Dior, the jacket communicated the optimism and excitement of the post-war era, symbolizing “the attitude of a woman freed from social convention, who went out into the world in the company of other women.”

The Bar suit manifests all of Dior’s striking attributes. A curious thing is that based on the brand’s archives, we know that the original version included an altered notched collar before it became famous, after all, it is the shawl collar variation that is the one we know today. If you imagine that the designer changed at the request of a client, no one is sure. The fact is that it was the version paraded and photographed, establishing the Maison Dior’s signature.

Experts recognize that there are many pieces from the brand with notched collars, but Christian Dior was known as a fervent supporter of shawl collars and curved necklines, which match the curvaceous shapes articulated with the shoulders and hips of his models. The notched lapel would be more commonly used in other suit manufacturers from the 1940s that emphasized angular geometries.

More than 70 years later, it is still made manually by the brand’s artisans and is one of the most important pieces in the history of fashion. Over the decades of the House of Dior, the Bar suit has received revised versions and is, unsurprisingly, a museum piece.

The main signature of the ‘new look’, it was reproduced 21 times in its first season and was even requested for a private showing for the British Royal Family (who commissioned an exclusive dress for Princess Margaret). It was copied and commissioned by Hollywood stars such as Rita Hayworth, who was at the launch parade.

It was to be expected that The New Look series would highlight the creation of such a striking outfit. If we take the fiction version into account, that’s another five hundred, but no one questions the emotion of the scene. What we know is that it is one of the most easily recognized pieces in the world, even outside the fashion world. And it’s always worth revisiting.

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