DIOR BAR JACKET

Introduced on February 12, 1947, within Dior’s debut collection at 30 Avenue Montaigne, the Bar jacket set the tone for the New Look: soft, rounded shoulders; a tightly fitted waist; basques that extend over padded hips; worn with a long, pleated black skirt. Variants appear with notched or shawl collars, but the reading is consistent: controlled volume above and below a defined middle.

Pressed, it looks sharp; broken in, it feels easy. It layers under a blazer, opens over a tee, and tucks cleanly into denim or suiting. The best fit keeps the shoulders true and the collar rolling, not rigid. With washing and small repairs, it lasts for years and looks better doing it.

• Silhouette: rounded shoulder line; cinched waist; basques that flare over the hip; long skirt pairing in the canonical ensemble.

• Materials, canonical look: ivory silk shantung jacket; black pleated wool or wool-crepe skirt; interior shaping with padding and structured canvas.

• Construction cues: multi-panel body; hand-finished buttons and collar; internal shaping that recalls late-19th-century dress supports while reading modern.

• Collar variants: documented in Dior archives with notched and shawl treatments across early editions.

• Adopted from men’s shirting into women’s daily dress.
• Ivy and workwear roots translated into studio, office, and evening.
• Minimalist 1990s and modern tailoring keep it in steady rotation.
• Ages well and records use through softening and repair.

The Bar jacket debuts in Dior’s first collection, quickly labeled the “New Look” by the press. Its controlled curves rejected the boxier austerity of wartime dress and re-centered Paris couture on proportion, craft, and cloth. Subsequent creative directors have reinterpreted the form repeatedly, from Yves Saint Laurent to Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri, and into the current era, where the house continues to revisit the jacket’s waist-to-hip geometry on runway and in store.

Metropolitan Museum of Art collection notes on the Bar suit and New Look context.
Galerie Dior mini-story documenting jacket materials, five-button fastening, black pleated skirt, and Pierre Cardin’s atelier role.
Victoria and Albert Museum “Fashion Unpicked” discussion of construction. Victoria and Albert Museum
Dior official history on the February 12, 1947 presentation and line names.
Coverage of ongoing reinterpretations by house directors.
Recent runway reports noting current Bar-jacket reworks.