Autumn Winter 1952
Paris
Dress with large halter neckline in black silk ottoman, called Sonnet from the Profilée line - Christian Dior Haure Couture. Whalebone bustier with back zip, fully lined in black taffeta. Hip-length skirt emphasised by black satin piping and gimped scrolls at the hips. The black silk ottoman is fully lined with black tulle on the reverse. Two black tulle underskirts and a black silk taffeta underskirt. No scratches. Not labelled, no holes or stains. Exceptional condition. Wearable today. Similar models: Christian Dior Heritage, Paris.

Dimensions: French size 36 equivalent. Waist 65 cm, chest 83 cm, hips 118 cm, height 100 cm.

Gabrielle Chanel's first famous little black dress appeared in Vogue in October 1926, which the magazine called "La Ford de Chanel". In the Sonnet model from the Ligne Profilée, Christian Dior further accentuated the roundness of the hips, worthy of an 18th century dress. Patrick Demarchelier, in his book Dior Couture published in 2011, talks about this model in these terms: "This dress from the winter of 1952 is a magnificent piece of modern architecture. The purity of its structure is governed by the use of black, which reinforces the importance of line, one of the House's fundamental research themes. Christian Dior gave the dress the name Sonnet, which evokes the idea of a taste for music drawn from his childhood dream of becoming a composer. The dress also embodies the theme of Paris, underlining the importance of the French capital in the designer's imagination, as well as chic cocktail dresses and short evening gowns expressing the unbridled elegance of Parisian women".