From Dior to J'Adore

The news that the Arts Centre in Melbourne was about to stage a new version of that old classic Grey Gardens, the story of Big Edie (Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale) and Little Edie (Edith Bouvier Beale) started me thinking about the colour grey. Although grey has very little to do with the fascinating lives of these two Hamptons-bound has-beens, apart from the fact that it was the name of their now-famous decaying mansion, it does seem to represent them, in a curious, match-the-colour-to-the-personality way.

Another personality that grey represents – and in a much more stylish and dignified way – is that great, glorious French couturier Monsieur Christian Dior. Dior was so enamoured with the colour dove grey he made it one of his signature colours, if not his brand.

It's perhaps fitting that we're doing a post on Dior because a beautiful new book has just been released on the designer's life. Entitled Dior Couture Patrick Demarchelier, it's a collection of fashion portraits of the world's most glamorous women wearing Dior – all shot by Patrick Demarchelier. Locations inclide Shanghai, Times Square, New York, the grand staircase of the Paris Opera House, and the garden of the Musée Rodin. Published by Rizzoli, it's fashion as art. Just glorious.

Here, in tribute to the master of shape and silhouette, are a few Dior-esque posts...