Granville
CHRISTIAN DIOR
Interwoven Cameos at the Home
Interview by Axelle Simon
Photo Crédits: Mélanie Grenon
In the centre of an English garden, suspended over the cliffs of Granville, the Christian Dior Museum faces off with the sea. The childhood home of the celebrated fashion designer, Villa Les Rhumbs, has been since 1997 a museum dedicated to his life and work, where an exhibition is held each year from spring to autumn, showcasing the collections.
Titled this year “Christian Dior, Visionary Fashion Designer” (from April 6 to November 3, 2024), it tells the fashion designer’s journey in three parts over the three floors of the villa. From Granville to America, passing by Paris and London, it bears witness to the creativity of the fashion designer who was greatly influenced by his childhood in Granville. Behind the scenes of the museum, a small village brings the villa to life and preserves the collections. During exhibitions, the place swells with visitors as well as seasonal workers that lend a hand to welcome them, but a core team of four employees are present year-round. A meeting with four remarkable women who champion the work of he whom they all call with respect “Monsieur Dior.”
Brigitte Richart,
HEAD CURATOR AND EXHIBITION COMMISSIONER
No two days of Brigitte Richart at the Christian Dior Museum
are ever alike since she executes different activities every day
beside collections she knows well and must preserve, enhance,
showcase, illuminate, and organise.
PRESERVE...
As the Head curator of the museum, her primary role is to preserve the collections, which means being responsible for them, guaranteeing their good preservation, and presenting them to the public. She cites “an immense joy in taking care of them and preserving them for future generations.” She has them restored if necessary.
ENHANCE..
Brigitte Richart also has a responsibility to enhance the collections by way of donations and new acquisitions. In addition to unprompted gift from private individuals, the museum leads an acquisitions campaign in collaboration with the Christian Dior Presence Association, Christian Dior Couture, Christian Dior Perfumes, and LVMH. The head office in Paris is tasked with part of the acquisitions thanks to the vast network that gravitates around the house of Dior.
SHOWCASE…
The teams in Granville and Paris study the requests for loans from other museums and institutions with keen interest, for these loans are how they share and showcase the works of Christian Dior around the world. There is a common rule in this field: an item displayed for one month needs a year in reserve. Consequently, for exhibits or loans of 6 months, the item must be stored for 6 years before it can be showcased again. It pays to consider carefully before loaning!
ILLUMINATE…
As the Curator and as the Exhibition commissioner, Brigitte Richart’s aim is to illuminate the life and work of the great fashion designer and to show the Christian Dior collections in a new light at cultural events and during exhibitions. “What I love about my role is to be able to echo a form of beauty, an aesthetic, an attention to detail, and to be able to transmit this to the visitors.”
ORGANISE…
Each year, the museum displays a temporary exhibition that lasts from spring until autumn, and which is always a resounding success. Brigitte Richart and her teams organise them, giving each exhibition a unique theme and identity. There are no repeats, only different pieces of collections that are presented in a novel way.
Fanny Murison,
COLLECTIONS DIRECTOR
As the museum’s Collections director, Fanny Murison’s job consists of the daily and long-term management of all the collections’ gems. Discreetly carrying out her work in the reserve, she carefully protects the items from the passage of time, handling them as cautiously as possible. For the exhibits, she must bring them out of the reserve, as meticulously and delicately as possible.
DISCREETLY…
Fanny Murison’s job makes her an unsung heroine in the world of high fashion. As a Collections director, she knows all the collections’ secrets and spends a large part of her time in the reserve, discreetly, away from onlookers and the light of day, in contact with 5,000 pieces. Initially, the high fashion items were not designed to last this long: “That they are here before me in such good shape is no small miracle.”
CAREFULLY…
The museum has its own collection which belongs to the city of Granville. In this privileged space, the preservation of the collection takes place under the best conditions, and the items are handled as seldom as possible. Dresses, accessories, photographs, and rare documents are stored there, easily located, carefully organised, and labelled.
CAUTIOUSLY…
Fanny Murison is one of the few people qualified to handle the fragile and precious textiles. They are tricky objects to preserve because they do not like variations in humidity and temperature, and they wear out easily. Therefore, she very cautiously does her stocktaking, moving the pieces and putting them back.
METICULOUSLY…
According to the exhibitions, Fanny handles the pieces that will be put on display. Visitors do not necessarily realise the meticulous dressing done in advance. Each fabric mannequin is fitted to the clothing it is wearing. Fanny adds, for example, padding on the shoulders, hips, or chest to perfectly fit the measures of the piece.
DELICATELY…
After being displayed, the pieces go back into the museum’s reserve. Before being put back into their cover, hanger, or box, each dress, coat, pair of shoes, and accessory is inspected very delicately, over each seam, with a fine-toothed comb, and under a magnifying glass, before being cleaned. Each piece takes at least 15 minutes and up to one hour of work..
Pauline Robin,
COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIATION MANAGER
Pauline Robin’s effect is unmissable: ensuring that the image conveyed to the public in the media and on social networks is in keeping with the history of this childhood home, contributes to the influence of the work of Christian Dior, and preserves his memory and his heritage, thanks to exhibitions, visits, and workshops.
A CHILDHOOD HOME…
Pauline Robin is so attached to the link between past and present that she strives to transmit it as authentically as possible in all her communications with professionals and individuals. Christian Dior himself wrote in his memoirs that the memory he kept of his childhood home and his flower garden (and its magnificent rose garden) inspired his whole life and was the source of his calling to become a fashion designer.
INFLUENCE…
From one century to another, from one continent to another, the name of Christian Dior is universally known. This image, which nourishes both the Christian Dior Presence Association and the museum in Granville, is a reference in Haute Couture and fashion. It is also a source of influence of the French art de vivre and the excellence of its craft in the eyes of creators and the public alike. Pauline is one of the integral links of this sustained dialogue between Christian Dior and the world.
HERITAGE…
The Christian Dior Museum was the first in France to be dedicated to a fashion designer. Its collection is inalienable and received the very coveted label “Museum of France,” which guarantees it the financial and scientific support of the state. It has also become a “Home of the Illustrious,” acting as an anchor in the heritage of the city of Granville and confirming a very strong attachment to the people of Granville. Pauline Robin takes great care to guard the authenticity and the accuracy of the information transmitted about this place of remembrance and history of the Dior family in Granville.
THE PUBLIC…
Pauline Robin does not only handle communication; she is also in charge of mediation with the public, which she would like to be as large as possible. Each year, tens of thousands of visitors go to see the Christian Dior Museum, and they always leave filled with wonder.
WORKSHOPS…
Sharing the work and craft of Christian Dior is also part of her mission. To do this, she oversees the organisation of guided visits during the exhibition season and makes guide booklets and games available. The workshops for all ages are very well received: Little Stylist, Hatter in the Making, Apprentice Perfumer, and Milliner’s Headdress.
Ophélie Verstavel,
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR AND BOUTIQUE MANAGER
Ophélie Verstavel is a passionate enthusiast. So young and already the most experienced of the team; sixteen years of employment with the Museum! Today, she is the administrative coordinator, also the General secretary of the Christian Dior Presence Association, and is responsible for the museum’s boutique, a must-see for Granville residents and visitors just passing through, for whom she likes to make herself available. The sketches as well as all the elegant and creative objects will become their souvenirs.
PASSIONNÉE…
Ophélie exhibits great versatility, flawless personal investment, and boundless creativity. She describes herself “as passionate about as I am attached to the Villa.” As proof, in nice weather, not a day goes by that she does not go for a stroll in the lanes of the garden. Before and during each of the exhibits, she has also made it a habit to regularly roam the galleries to soak up the atmosphere of the collections.
AVAILABLE…
To know the exact contents of the exhibitions is fundamental for Ophélie who, in the season, is in constant contact with the visitors (more than 70,000 per year), always making herself available to them. Welcoming visitors, managing the ticket office, and supervising the boutique, “Nothing like direct contact with visitors to share our attachment to Monsieur Dior.”
SKETCHES…
The Christian Dior Museum’s small boutique is full of souvenirs relating to fashion, Haute Couture, the Villa, the garden, Granville, and more broadly, the life and work of the great fashion designer. Front and centre are the sketches drawn by Christian Dior. Among the reproductions of the sketches, his most famous dresses are all the rage (Jour de fête, Amour, Topaze, Roseraie, Muguet de Mai, etc…).
ÉLÉGANT…
Everything sold in the boutique has the uniqueness “of being elegant and conveying a beautiful image of the work of Monsieur Dior.” Ophélie also makes sure there is a wide range of good-quality products (exclusively made in France or Europe), selected with care and discernment, and accessible for all budgets.
CRÉATIVE…
Ophélie feels duty-bound to be creative and come up with new ideas every year of souvenirs to take home with you. Thus, you will find sketchbooks, notepads, magnets, and scarves, but also perfumes (like the famous Miss Dior), candles, nail polish, jewellery, tea, and more. Do not miss the book corner, which is brimming with beautiful tomes on Granville, fashion, and Haute Couture, without forgetting, of course, the autobiography of the fashion designer (Christian Dior and I, 1956).
MUSÉE ET JARDIN
CHRISTIAN DIOR
Villa Les Rhumbs,
1 rue d’Estouteville,
50400 Granville
02 33 61 48 21
musee@museechristiandior.fr
www.musee-dior-granville.com
Instagram : museediorgranville