A
Haute Couture Spring-Summer 1955, A line
Following the H
line, which was introduced for the Fall-Winter 1954 collection, Christian Dior renamed his Spring-Summer 1955 collection the A line, which defined the silhouette for the season.
“The rigour of winter and the parallelism of the H line are replaced with the silhouette of Spring. A looser, more flared line which the letter A symbolises perfectly.”
Press release for the Spring-Summer 1955 Collection
This line was looser than the H line and was designed in many variations, for both day and evening wear. The perfect example of an outfit in this collection was the jacket-dress ensemble.
“Although the elongated bust remains the dominant line, the crossbar of the A is movable, while the flexible, not so pronounced waistline retains its natural position, without emphasizing it too much,” explained the collection notes. The belts and the basques underlined the waistline and accentuated the silhouette’s A shape."
This collection also included many evening dresses: “Never have we made such extensive use of them. The simplicity of the lines of the evening dresses is admirably matched by the enrichment they bring. Sumptuous but discreet, they take their theme from the Indies and the Trianon,” explained the collection notes.
It was a success with the press which praised it. Vogue hailed the A line as “the most delicate incarnation – and the prettiest triangle since Pythagoras”!
A symbol of this success, the actress Olivia de Havilland wore the A suit for her wedding in 1955.
© Laziz Hamani; © INA; © JALOU/L'Officiel; © René Vital/Paris-Match/Scoop
