Miss Dior: A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture

Catherine Dior was a very private person which makes this book all the more remarkable because the author did a tremendous amount of research on her life, her work as a spy for the French resistance and her subsequent journey through the hell of Nazi concentration camps and its aftermath on her body and soul. I devoured this books as did my mother. We both found the mixture of haute couture, the Dior family, including Christian and most heartbreakingly, Catherine, to be a masterful and entertaining biography.

This book is packed with thorough research, so you'll learn so much, but it's written beautifully and takes you into the emotion of human behavior. Though it was absolutely heartbreaking to read the accounts of the atrocities of WW2, it showed the power of the human spirit. I couldn't put this book down and would highly recommend it!

I was surprised at this book. I expected to read about life in France, the fashion world, etc. It did talk about her brother, Christian, but was mostly about her, a young woman with tremendous courage. She was in two concentration camps and suffered unspeakable hardships and seems to have come through it with an appreciation for simple things in life and not particularly bitter. If I had known it was about concentration camps, I would never have read it, but the author did a good job focusing on how this women and others like her, who one wouldn't expect to even live through those experiences, actually came through as strong women. It really is hard to believe it happened to women like them or to anyone for that matter.

I read this book with great interest! Very well researched and written it tells a story of both Ms. Dior and other Bragg resistance fighters. It also tells of the horror brought on by collaborators. Important book.

This exhaustively research biography is seriously hampered by the fact that Catherine Dior never wrote about her own life nor did she speak of it. She preferred anonymity. And she died before the author began writing this biography. But the author provides a fascinating and somewhat horrifying insight into the couture industry of Paris and how it thrived during the German occupation and the years that followed. All things considered this is a dark and somewhat depressing read. But certainly respectable and it stands as a testament to the writers diligent research and dedication. I would highly recommend this book to those who want to know what life was like in Paris during World War II.

The story of Catherine Dior (much loved by brother Christian) is amazing: how she fought the war as a Resistant, was interned, and came out stronger than ever. Retiring to the south of France after the war to grow roses and peonies, she said “Aime la vie,” love life.” The perfume, Miss Dior was created for her and named after here.e

The book is well written however it is only tangentially about Catherine Dior. She appears at most on every fourth page, although while reading the book it felt like every 12th page. The best part of the book is parts drawn from Christian Dior's autobiography the worst is the detailed descriptions that appear throughout the book of the horrors visited on those, like Catherine, who were captured and tortured by the Nazi's. The horrific descriptions stayed with me several days later. I wanted to read about a woman who was part of the life of Christian Dior, NOT the horrors of the Nazis. I admit that perspective of how traumatized the French were by the Germans and their occupation informed the joy of Dior's "New Look," so I can see why it was included. However, there are other ways for an author to get there. The images in general could have been far better. Postage stamp size images should have been spread over more pages so they could have been larger and visible. The lengthy description of Dior's Miss Dior dress was accompanied by only a black and white image, whereas the image does appear in color in recent exhibition catalogs. I gave this book two stars because the author is a good writer. I'd really love to read a story about Catherine Dior, which this was not. She is a ghost on the pages, which admittedly may be all that the author could tease out about her from the remaining written records. Perhaps better would have been a nice long article about her.

Great book

What a good book! Definitely a long read but a good one

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A wonderfully written book, made me feel so close to the Diors and their suffering and those of the many who suffered atrocities during WW2. Interesting factual account of fashion following the deprivations of WW2. Overall excellent and a book I shall always be proud to own and will certainly read again.

Ich dachte das Buch kommt in einer Folie. So wie das Gucci Buch. Damit es nicht beschädigt wird. Ist aber leider nicht so. Das Buch an sich ist im guten Zustand. Wollte den Verkäufer kontaktieren, leider finde ich diese Funktion hier nicht. Werde es glaub ich neu kaufen und dieses zurückschicken. Schade. Sollte ein geschenkt werden.

Into the life of his sister over him, refreshing read.