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Our blog features our picks of the freshest vintage items, member news and articles. We have also created a growing series of articles on some classic designers.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of vintage fashion.
The Vintage Fashion Guild™ (VFG) is an international community of people with expertise in vintage fashion. VFG members enjoy a wealth of resources, avenues for promoting their shops and specialties, and camaraderie with others who share a common interest and passion.
Marc Bohan (1926-2023) is best known for his 30-year career at Christian Dior.
Born in Paris, Bohan was assistant to designer Robert Piguet from 1945 to 1949, and to Molyneux, 1949-51. In 1952, Bohan worked as a designer for Madeleine de Rauch, then opened his own Paris salon and produced one collection, in 1953. In 1954, Bohan accepted a job at Jean Patou, designing haute couture collections for four years.
Armed with an impeccable resume, Bohan moved to New York in 1958 to work as a coat designer for an American manufacturer. It was then that he was asked to assist Christian Dior design a new collection, however Dior died before the collection came to fruition. Bohan became designer for Dior’s London line in 1958, and then two years later he was promoted to replace Yves Saint Laurent at the helm of Dior in Paris.
His first haute couture collection for Dior, autumn-winter of 1960, was a resounding success. The 1920s-inspired, youthful collection was dubbed the Slim Look. His 1966 collection, inspired by Doctor Zhivago, was another notable collection.
“N’oubliez pas la femme,” Bohan told Vogue magazine in 1963. He pleased Dior’s clients with excellent fit, luxurious fabrics and a certain amount of subtlety; elegance with just a “touch of insolence,” he said.
Marc Bohan’s name never appeared on a Dior label or on collection programs. Rather than provoking headlines in his own name, his strength was in anticipating the customers’ wishes. Bohan designed most notably for Princess Grace of Monaco, who supported Bohan by opening the Baby Dior boutique in 1967. Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Lynn Wyatt, and Betsy Bloomingdale were among his clients.
In 1989, Bohan left Dior and soon after was coaxed into designing for the house of Norman Hartnell. Financial troubles at the beginning of the recession forced Hartnell to close in 1992.
Dior paid its respects to their longest-tenured designer with a lavish coffee-table book in 2018.
Written by denisebrain
from a 1958 couture evening dress
from a 1965 couture evening gown
from a 1968 couture jacket
from a 1974 couture evening gown