Dior at Printemps (left, John Galliano 2010), pic: Steve Sampson
In Paris, fantasy windows at big stores are a Christmas delight. While the rest of the world uses wireless animatronics, Noël puppets here are real marionettes. To orchestrate their mechanised strings, all the prestige stores rely on one puppeteer: Jean-Claude Dehix.
Dior at Printemps, pic: Steve Sampson
Dehix did his first Christmas windows thirty-nine years ago. They were for Printemps who, this year, have vitrines by Dior. By mixing couture classics with later robes by John Galliano, the maison uses them to focus on its heritage. Their poupées are shown amusing themselves in a snowy Paris: skating and waltzing and lifting off in balloons. This combination of charming scenery and retro costumes recalls the long-forgotten Théâtre de la Mode. That combination of dolls, couture and Paris made a special tour of the world after World War II. It was le Théâtre‘s tiny poupées who saved the French couture industry.
Dior at Printemps, pic: Steve Sampson
After its liberation in 1944, Paris was beset by shortages and hardships. Although there was nothing with which to make dresses, the haute couture houses remained determined to make a comeback. Working together, its maisons created 233 small ambassadors, beautifully-dressed dolls posed in Parisian scenes. The city’s best designers, milliners, artisans and artists volunteered to produce miniature sets and mannequins. These finished dolls were sent on the road, where their flair convinced the world that Paris remained serious fashion’s centre.
Those poupées were dressed by the great names of pre-War fashion, including Grès, Lanvin, Carven, Balenciaga and Nina Ricci. One of the project’s prime movers was Lucien Lelong. At his house, the design itself was handled by two men: Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior.
Théâtre de la Mode doll, Dior for Lelong, pic: copyright David Seidner (link below)
After its success, the Théâtre de la Mode was abandoned in America. When a professor studying Dior chanced to discover them, he launched a campaign for their restoration. Over half the dolls have survived and continue to supply a “missing link” in fashion history. They show how several designers in Paris anticipated that ‘New Look’ which launched the fame of Christian Dior.
Dior’s famous ‘Bar’* suit from that era appears in this year’s windows. But seeing such fashion classics on puppets in the snow is spooky. It recalls the winter which produced Théâtre de la Mode – one of the very worst in all of French history. Thread froze in the hands of the hungry workers as they stitched, while hairdressers struggled to thaw out the dolls’ coiffures. Shortages became so acute that Christmas was described by Le Figaro as “without fuel, without electricity, without shoes and without clothing.”
Théatre de la Mode doll, Lelong, pic: copyright David Seidner (link below)
So Théâtre de la Mode remains an inspiring accomplishment. At a time when Santa could not even scare up lumps of coal, haute couture summoned up the power to realise dreams.
Théâtre de la Mode dolls by Piguet, Schiaparelli, Balmain; pic: copyright David Seidner (link below)
* It was designed for what Americans then called “the cocktail hour”.
• The late fashion photographer David Seidner produced beautiful photos of Théâtre de la Mode, whose dolls remain today at Washington state’s Maryhill Museum of Art.