MÉMOIRES OF A MEDOLL: J'adore Dior

It was either a spout of luck, or a twist of fate that caused me to cross paths with this book.

I know that sounds dramatic, almost like I met my true love or something, and I'm not going to say something cliched like this book changed my life, but I will say that it has certainly made my day brighter, and has shown me some useful insights. The first thing that popped out to me about this book was the author's name: Christian Dior. Honestly, who hasn't heard the name Dior.

Dior inspired looks have even appeared in stardoll, such as the ones blow:

Of course the Dior we see today, is far from the original Dior of the early 20th century. The Little Dictionary of Fashion was published in 1954, a whole different era of fashion. But there are just some words of wisdom that transcend eras. This so-called dictionary is a "guide to dress sense for every women," and the key word in this is every. Clothing used to be much more expensive then it is now, and most people did not ever bother with "useless" things like fashion. Dior saw this trend, and directly addressed this in his intro:

"Many people dismiss haute couture as being something that is only for those who are very wealthy. But it is possible for a women to be elegant without spending very much money on her clothes, if she follows the basic rules of fashion, and is careful to chose the clothes that suite her personality."

I think these words hold very much true in the present day as well. Dress to express - right? A sense that fashion for everyone is also deeply tied into stardoll. As seen in the picture above, weather you're super star or not, you can own a Dior dress for as cheep as 5 stardollars. That's something everyone can earn on a...day's pay, shall we call it?

As we travel into the pages of this book, we find definitions (well duh it's a dictionary, right?), but they're not your run of the mill, every day type of simplistic definitions. For example if you looked up the word individuality in a regular dictionary you might find a definition like this:

in·di·vid·u·al·i·ty[in-duh-vij-oo-al-i-tee]

1. the particular character, or aggregate of qualities, that distinguishes one person or thing from others.

In The Little dictionary of Fashion, the "definition" looks like this:

Individuality: Until the time we are converted into robots - and I hope this time will never come - individuality will always be one of the conditions of real elegance... Try to understand well what is your personality and never forget that individuality does not mean eccentricity.

As you see it's not so much of a definition, but a conveyance of how certain words tie into fashion. I really like Dior's comment about eccentricity, especially since people on stardoll have come to think that being "unique" means looking like this:


credit to stardollsuniquemakeup.blogspot.com

You don't have to cover your face with sparkles to show that you're an individual. Being an individual is about knowing who you are, and not being afraid to show it.

The pages are filled with wise words, weather it be that "grooming is the secret of real elegance," or the realization that "we wouldn't appreciate blue skies if they were always blue." Overall the book reminds of a magazine in the way that it talks about each specific item (such as a hem line, or heals) in relation to your body type, in the same way a magazine like Seventeen would.

Although Christian is gone from the world now, his legend lives on. The personal touches he added to this book made me feel like I almost knew him. Et finalement? J'adore Dior.

I will leave you with these last words of wisdom from Dior:

The key to good dressing? "There is no key. If there were it would be too easy, rich women could buy the key and all their fashion worries would be over! But simplicity, grooming, and good taste -the three fundamentals of fashion- cannot be bought. But they can be learnt, by rich and poor alike."