Paris, 1956. At 30 Avenue Montaigne, a twenty-one-year-old from Bremen crosses the threshold of the House of Christian Dior for the first time. His name is Jürgen Michaelsen. Captivated by his passion and sensitivity, the couturier engages him at once, gives him the name Yorn, and opens to him the rarefied world of haute couture. Here, Christian Dior's former assistant offers a rare and intimate account from within : the mysteries of a collection's creation, the magic of the ateliers, the charged atmosphere of the presentation salons, and the quiet camaraderie that unites those working backstage, from head seamstresses and house models to the celebrated clients who give the master's creations their life. Vivid and luminous, his memoir is both an immersion in that singular universe and a lesson in living. "I always find the early years, when a man is carving out his career, the most exciting part of any autobiography," wrote Christian Dior. After this formative passage through Dior, Yorn Michaelsen went on to establish himself as a respected fashion designer in both France and Germany. The book is illustrated with a unique photographic essay by Loomis Dean, produced during the same period for Life magazine, alongside images by leading fashion photographers of the era and previously unpublished archival material from the House of Dior.
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