Dior Dressing Dictionary
- Caroline McKenzie
- Dec 31, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 10, 2022
Christian Dior’s “Little Dictionary of Fashion” guides women’s fashion from the 1950s to the present

Christian Dior worked in fashion and the arts long before he started his own high fashion brand, Dior in 1947. Working in art galleries, sketching designs, and assisting other designers led him to his prominent role as a designer and fashion icon.
His long history of working in the fashion industry gave him valuable experience and knowledge of the fashion world. In 1954, he gathered all that wisdom into a tiny 126 Page book called “The Little Dictionary of Fashion.”
The dictionary details how women should dress to look elegant and put together, regardless of their financial status. Dior includes 137 of the most important words in fashion from A-Z. He both defines terms and gives his opinions or tips that relate to the terms in his descriptions.
Before he begins, Dior includes a small introduction that explains his intentions. With this short dictionary, he hoped to cover all the necessary parts of women’s fashion to help women dress tastefully by following some simple fashion rules. He says that “simplicity, good taste, and grooming” are the first steps to dressing well and have minimal costs. The terms that follow go more in-depth on how women can achieve proper dressing.
Dior uses a casual tone throughout the book. His use of exclamation marks and digestible language, such as the words nice and lovely which are repeated throughout, allow him to reach a wider audience. The fashion-specific language is also well-explained for women with little fashion experience.
Some of the descriptions are quite dated. Dior defines all kinds of frocks, from day to afternoon to cocktail frocks. The term frock is not a part of most people’s vocabulary or wardrobe anymore making his perspective on this insignificant; however, many terms in the dictionary are applicable today. ‘Fit’, ‘jewelry’, ‘knitwear’, and ‘colors’ are all terms that remain relevant in the modern-day, as well as his rules for each of these terms.
In the age section, he advises women to wear one thing before they are married and another thing after they are married, particularly when it comes to jewelry or fur. This perpetuates the idea that women are valued for getting married.
At many points, he uses the phrase “not-so-slim” when advising how to dress or style certain pieces. He implies the perfect body is a slim one in the Bodice section. “When your figure is perfect, the simpler the bodice the better.” Here, he implies that the perfect body is a slim one and that slim bodies serve as an accessory on their own. “Not-so-slim” bodies, on the other hand, need to be hidden or remedied to appear smaller.
Both of these are representative of the times and may not have been intentional but are both harmful messages.
Without characters, plot points, or a story, Dior manages to bring his “Little Dictionary of Fashion” to life through vibrant descriptions and views. While some terms and ideals are old-fashioned, the book holds valuable tips for women and will have relevance for years to come.
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