FASION Christian Dior On February 12, 1947, a new couturier named Christian Dior presented his first show to the press. In an elegant salon on the Avenue Montaigne, a model sauntered out wearing a calf-grazing skirt made with 20 yards of black wool. A cream shantung jacket (like most of Dior’s designs, it came with a name, Bar) had a tightly nipped waist that flared into a regal peplum. In a postwar world still under continued rationing, the ensemble was downright shocking. But to a legion of women used to boxy suits and drab skirts, Dior’s ultra-feminine styles were a blissful reminder of better days—and the promise of a return to luxury. “You waved your wand and suddenly I was young and hopeful again,” one ardent fan wrote Monsieur Dior. “I love you.” Envisioning a globe peopled with customers clad in head-to-toe Dior, the designer set about building an empire of elegance, establishing outposts in New York, London, and Caracas. Delman designer Roger Vivier created shoes as...