Christian Dior and Raf Simons Now and Then — vogue.com

Raf Simons joined Dior in April 2012; he made his haute couture debut just months later, in July. Dior and I, a documentary premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, chronicles the making of that wildly acclaimed collection. More than a clothes-fest, Dior and I explores the dynamic between the Belgian designer and the house’s late founder, Monsieur Dior, known as “Cri-Cri” to his friends. Though working decades apart, these two are recognized as masters of their craft with the ability to speak fluently and poetically to fashion-avid women. Though cut from different cloth—Simons’s first fame is as a cult menswear designer with street cred; Dior was a luxury-loving aesthete—they are held together at the seams. And not, it appears, just as a matter of succession. A reread of Dior’s autobiography reveals many points of convergence between Monsieur, who Vogue Fashion Editor Bettina Ballard once described as a “pink-cheeked man with an air of baby plumpness still around him, and an almost desperate shyness,” and the reserved but confident Simons.  Here, in anticipation of Dior and I, our own compare and contrast.

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