In the summer of 1944, shortly after Paris had been liberated but war was still raging in the rest of the world, a cohort of French designers conjured up an audacious scheme to ensure Paris remained the capital of haute couture in the post-war world. (The Nazis had wanted to transfer it lock stock and thread to Berlin.) 

Le Petit Théâtre de la Mode, (or the miniature theatre of fashion), was a collection of 70cm high dolls dressed in scaled down replicas of the designers’ collections – each one hand sewn, embroidered and jewelled in the fashion houses’ own exacting ateliers.

If the clients couldn’t come to Paris, then Paris would go to the clients, dispatched in trunks around the world, so that customers could see the workmanship up close.

Leap forward eight decades to the summer of 2020, and Dior is reviving this charming practice. As well as Monday’s digital catwalk show, serious clients will be sent slightly smaller dolls (either 55cm or 57cm) in their requested outfits, alongside full-scale calico toiles (a canvas template they can try on) and fabric swatches.

To read more, head here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/womens-style/christian-diors-first-digital-couture-show-bore-similarities/?WT.mc_id=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo&utm_source=tmgoff&utm_medium=tmg_youtube&utm_content=offsite_televideo&utm_campaign=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo-youtubevideo

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