Irish woman Oriole Cullen is the curator behind 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams' exhibition at the Victoria & Albert in London. Listen back on RTÉ Radio 1 above.
Having earned her bachelor's degree in the history of art and English at UCD, Oriole Cullen went on to receive her MA in the history of dress from London's Courtauld Institute. From there, the Dublin woman began working at the Museum of London as the Curator of Dress and Decorative Arts before joining the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2006 as the Curator of Fashion and Textiles.
"I think it was really when I was studying at UCD - we had a wonderful seminar on dating paintings through costumes - that I realised that this was something I could do for a job," she explained. I was very interested in that side of things and I was able then to pursue it as a career."
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Oriole's most recent project surrounds French fashion designer Christian Dior in an exhibition called 'Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams'. Spanning 1947 to the present day, the exhibit traces the impact that the fashion icon had on the 21st Century as well as his influences, his mentors and, of course, his now famous 'New Look'.
"The 'New Look' was actually coined by another Irish woman, Carmel Snow, who came from Dalkey," says Oriole. "She was the editor of Harper's Bazaar. She was a very influential and powerful woman at the time."
According to Oriole, there was an air of excitement and anticipation in the lead-up to Christian's first show. On the 12th of February, 1947, the fashion world watched his catwalk with bated breath, willing the French man to deliver something spectacular for the post-war era.
Thankfully, he delivered.
"He introduced a completely new silhouette," says Oriole. "He moved away from the boxy shapes and the square shoulders of the war years. He brought in sloping shoulders, a tiny waist, padded hips, and long calf-length skirts which were seen as the epitome of luxury at the time."
"The fashion press went crazy for it, Carmel Snow dubbed it the 'new look', but there was also controversy too," she continued. "It was seen as being quite opulent in a time when a lot of people had suffered so much hardship and there was still so much rationing in place. It was controversial on many levels."
The V&A exhibition, which is based on a previous exhibition that took place in Paris to celebrate 70 years of the fashion house, will take place from now until Sunday, 1 September 2019. Following that, Oriole hopes that someone might offer to host her work in Ireland.
"It would be wonderful to do so," she says. "The V&A has a big travelling programme of exhibitions, we do send our exhibitions out and around the world. Whenever we have interest, we're always very happy to talk to anyone so never say never."
To learn more, listen back to Oriole Cullen speak with Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio 1 in the video above.
