Brave Ginette “Catherine” Dior — little sister of founder Christian — took on the Nazis and survived capture, torture and a concentration camp.
Dior’s muse is played by Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams in new Apple+ TV series The New Look, which reveals how her amazing story spurred her brother to create his most famous perfume and the floral design of his iconic 1949 dress.
Born in France in 1917, Catherine was 12 years younger than Christian and his favourite sibling.
In the drama, which also stars Ben Mendelsohn as Dior and Juliette Binoche as his fashion rival Coco Chanel, Catherine is shown as a baby in the arms of her loving mother as Christian promises to “always look after her”.
Their mother passed away in 1931, and in 1936 they moved from the family home in Provence to Paris, where Christian began designing clothes while Catherine sold hats and gloves in a boutique.
Biographer Justine Picardie writes in her book, Miss Dior: A Story Of Courage And Couture: “Christian and Catherine remained close, sharing the love of flowers from their mother, and a mutual passion for art and music. Catherine was his first model.”
She devoted her spare time to Christian’s sewing projects when he was hired by top designer Robert Piguet in 1938, and later couturier Lucien Lelong — the boss of other big names in fashion such as Pierre Balmain and Cristobal Balenciaga.
The then-teenager, with her curly jet black hair, is seen in black and white photographs, posing in chic dresses and sparkling jewellery put together by Christian in his studio.
Catherine told Dior biographer Marie-France Poncha: “My brother loved designing costumes for me, with raffia skirts covered with shells, or hand-painted with Scottish motifs.”
But when war broke out in 1939, the life of the youngest of the four Dior siblings changed forever as France fell to the Nazis.
While buying a radio in November 1941 to listen to banned broadcasts from exiled resistance leader General Charles De Gaulle, she met married Fresh Resistance officer Herve des Charbonneries.
The pair fell in love and Catherine joined him in F2, a network with ties to British and Polish intelligence.
As part of their efforts to sabotage the Nazis, she would deliver messages to and from London, as well as along the South of France coast and Paris.
Only one per cent of the French population was courageous enough to join the Resistance.
On one occasion, she hid incriminating material from the Gestapo during a raid.
As her role grew, Catherine moved the entire operation into her big brother’s apartment in occupied Paris, across the street from Maxim’s restaurant where German officers would dine with French collaborators.
Christian knew that he was at risk by helping her but deflected attention by designing dresses for the wives of the Nazi elite.
But on July 6, 1944, Catherine she was arrested by the Gestapo and tortured for information, often passing out.
She later told war crimes investigators: “I lied to them as much as I could.
“I was subjected to an interrogation on my activities for the Resistance, and the interrogation was accompanied by brutalities.
“There was punching, kicking, slapping — and when they found my answers unsatisfactory, I was taken to a bathroom, undressed, bound at the hands and plunged into water.”
When she failed to offer information after weeks of torture, she was placed on one of the final trains to Ravensbruck Women’s Concentration Camp — just ten days before the liberation of Paris.
From the camp in north Germany, which had a death toll of up to 90,000, she was moved to Torgau slave labour camp, then to one in Abteroda and finally another location in Markkleeberg.
Alongside other captured French women, she was made to sleep on cold cement floors where there were no latrines, work 12-hour shifts on minimal rations and face regular beatings from SS guards.
Meanwhile, Christian was working hard with his friends in the Swedish consul trying to get Catherine freed.
He even resorted to clairvoyant Madame Delahaye, who kept him hopeful that Catherine was alive.
Under the fortune-teller’s advice, he devoted himself to his work.
He wrote in his memoir: “I exhausted myself in vain in trying to trace her. Work was the only drug which enabled me to forget her.”
In April 1945, Allied forces were advancing across Europe, while British and US forces liberated Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Prisoners like Catherine in the remaining camps were “evacuated” by SS officers — forced to walk despite exhaustion and illness.
‘I designed clothes for flower-like women’
During this death march, Catherine escaped near Dresden on April 21, 1945.
She made it to Paris by late May, so emaciated that her brother failed to recognise her at first.
With her head shaved, body beaten black and blue and suffering from severe PTSD, she took months to recover.
Christian nursed Catherine back to health and held off opening his own couture house until 1946, when she was back on her feet.
She was soon working behind the scenes to bring justice to war victims.
Picardie wrote: “She gave nothing away of her own wartime experiences, she was always discreet.
She didn’t want to be pitied — she wanted to be the captain of her own soul.”
Catherine refused to throw any lavish celebrations when she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, normally reserved for the bravest of the armed forces.
She was later honoured with the Combatant Volunteer Cross of the Resistance, the Combatant’s Cross, and was named a member of the Legion of Honour — France’s highest order of merit.
Britain also honoured her with the King’s Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom.
Catherine’s godson told Picardie: “She could not bear to hear German voices, and even the sight of cars bearing German number plates on the roads in France would make her angry and upset.”
She started selling roses at Paris’s Les Halles market, prompting Christian to come up with a rose-scented perfume which he sprayed all over the models of his first post-war collection in 1947.
He was with a business associate wondering what to call the fragrance when Catherine entered the room, prompting them to exclaim: “Voila, Miss Dior!” — sealing its name.
The perfume became a huge success and Christian continued to use Catherine as his muse.
Two years later, he released his 1949 collection’s Miss Dior dress, covered in hand-stitched silk roses, jasmine, and gardenias.
Dior recalled in his memoir: “As a result of the war and uniforms, women still looked and dressed like Amazons, but I designed clothes for flower-like women, with rounded shoulders, full feminine busts, and hand-span waists above enormous spreading skirts.”
Picardie added: “With her job dealing and cutting flowers, Catherine literally becomes the flower woman that inspired Christian in his design.
“She’s part of the imaginary Miss Dior, the one that represents freedom and love after the ugliness of war.”
When Christian suddenly died of a heart attack in 1957, Catherine gave up her floristry business and moved to the countryside to cultivate roses for Dior’s perfume — a job which she continued to do until she died aged 91 in 2008.
And she kept her brother’s memory alive, becoming honorary president of the Christian Dior Museum and safeguarding his artistic legacy.
Despite being a wartime heroine, she got little attention from the French media.
Picardie wrote: “It was as if the world of haute couture had no concern for a woman such as Catherine Dior, or for her suffering, nor whether her experiences had played a part in her brother’s legendary vision.”The New Look will stream on Apple TV+ early this year.
In April 1945, Allied forces were advancing across Europe, while British and US forces liberated Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Prisoners like Catherine in the remaining camps were “evacuated” by SS officers — forced to walk despite exhaustion and illness.
‘I designed clothes for flower-like women’
During this death march, Catherine escaped near Dresden on April 21, 1945.
She made it to Paris by late May, so emaciated that her brother failed to recognise her at first.
With her head shaved, body beaten black and blue and suffering from severe PTSD, she took months to recover.
Christian nursed Catherine back to health and held off opening his own couture house until 1946, when she was back on her feet.
She was soon working behind the scenes to bring justice to war victims.
Picardie wrote: “She gave nothing away of her own wartime experiences, she was always discreet.
She didn’t want to be pitied — she wanted to be the captain of her own soul.”
Catherine refused to throw any lavish celebrations when she was awarded the Croix de Guerre, normally reserved for the bravest of the armed forces.
She was later honoured with the Combatant Volunteer Cross of the Resistance, the Combatant’s Cross, and was named a member of the Legion of Honour — France’s highest order of merit.
Britain also honoured her with the King’s Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom.
Catherine’s godson told Picardie: “She could not bear to hear German voices, and even the sight of cars bearing German number plates on the roads in France would make her angry and upset.”
She started selling roses at Paris’s Les Halles market, prompting Christian to come up with a rose-scented perfume which he sprayed all over the models of his first post-war collection in 1947.
He was with a business associate wondering what to call the fragrance when Catherine entered the room, prompting them to exclaim: “Voila, Miss Dior!” — sealing its name.
The perfume became a huge success and Christian continued to use Catherine as his muse.
Two years later, he released his 1949 collection’s Miss Dior dress, covered in hand-stitched silk roses, jasmine, and gardenias.
Dior recalled in his memoir: “As a result of the war and uniforms, women still looked and dressed like Amazons, but I designed clothes for flower-like women, with rounded shoulders, full feminine busts, and hand-span waists above enormous spreading skirts.”
Picardie added: “With her job dealing and cutting flowers, Catherine literally becomes the flower woman that inspired Christian in his design.
“She’s part of the imaginary Miss Dior, the one that represents freedom and love after the ugliness of war.”
When Christian suddenly died of a heart attack in 1957, Catherine gave up her floristry business and moved to the countryside to cultivate roses for Dior’s perfume — a job which she continued to do until she died aged 91 in 2008.
And she kept her brother’s memory alive, becoming honorary president of the Christian Dior Museum and safeguarding his artistic legacy.
Despite being a wartime heroine, she got little attention from the French media.
Picardie wrote: “It was as if the world of haute couture had no concern for a woman such as Catherine Dior, or for her suffering, nor whether her experiences had played a part in her brother’s legendary vision.”The New Look will stream on Apple TV+ early this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment