Alexandre Louis Maurice Dior (7 February 1872 – 9 December 1946) was a French

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

, and the father of grand couturier

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Christian Dior SE, which is now owned by parent company LVMH. His fashion houses a ...

and

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

member Catherine Dior.

Early life

Maurice Dior was born in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and came from a family of industrialists who were former farmers from

Savigny-le-Vieux Savigny-le-Vieux () is a commune in the Manche department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division) ...

, on the border between the

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

and

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019. Together with his cousin Lucien Dior, a future member of parliament and minister, he took over the management of a chemical company specializing in fertilizer, founded in 1832 by Louis-Jean Dior. It was situated in Saint-Nicolas, not far from Granville. In 1898, at the age of 26, he married nineteen-year-old

Madeleine Martin Madeleine Elizabeth Martin (born April 15, 1993) is an American actress, known for her role as the character Rebecca "Becca" Moody on Showtime comedy-drama '' Californication''. Early life Martin grew up in New York City, United States. As her ...

. They had five children: Raymond in 1899, then

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

in 1905, Jacqueline in 1909, Bernard in 1910, and Ginette, known as Catherine, in 1917.

Career

Working with Lucien, Maurice strove to make the family firm prosper. In 1905, its capital reached 1.5 million francs. The decision to establish the company headquarters at the Rue d'Athènes in Paris demonstrates this prosperity. The company's success was buoyed along by innovations and the diversification of its activities: the Diors were the first people to produce

sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular fo ...

for

phosphate fertilizer A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

. The family also owned phosphate plants in the departments of

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...

and

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

. In 1912, the family firm adopted the name of "Dior Fils & Cie" (Dior Sons & Co) and became a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...

. Its capital rose to four million francs heralding a period of prosperity that was to last for around twenty years. The Diors opened factories in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

- in Landerneau,

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departm ...

and Saint-Marc, a town not far from Brest that was to give its name to the famous washing powder created a few years later. In 1923, Maurice and Lucien Dior's firm became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( l ...

. This business success led to changes in Maurice Dior's personal life. In 1905, the family left for the center of Granville and moved into a villa——which Maurice's wife Madeleine decorated in the fashion of the time and where she created a garden sheltered from the wind. It is now home to the ''Musée Christian Dior''. The family moved to the Parisian district of La Muette in 1910, to Rue Richard Wagner, later known as Rue Albéric Magnard, keeping ''Les Rhumbs'' as a holiday home. After the war, during which the Diors took refuge in Granville, they returned to Paris in 1918, living not far from their previous address. This new apartment once again demonstrated Maurice Dior's success: decorated in neo-Louis XVI style, two valuable paintings were displayed, a Boucher and a Lépicié, which Maurice Dior purchased on the advice of a friend.

Ruin

Wishing to make the revenue generated by his companies growth, Maurice Dior began speculating in 1923. To devote more time to this activity, and noting that his sons would not be taking over the family firm, he delegated some of his responsibilities to his cousin Lucien. In May 1931, Madeleine Dior died. A few months later, the fall-out from the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange coll ...

was felt in France and the businessman's shares lost their value. He then found himself unable to pay back the loan that he had taken out as part of the real estate operations intended to ensure his fortune and that of his sons. Maurice Dior was ruined and forced to liquidate his assets. The family firm was sold, and was later renamed SOFO, then SOFERTI. He left Paris in 1932 to live in Callian in the department of

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

, where life was cheaper. His daughter Catherine accompanied him, while Christian, who was not yet the renowned couturier that he would soon become, stayed in Paris and sent them money regularly. It was in Callian, in "Les Naÿssès", the small Provençal farmhouse that he purchased in 1932, that Maurice Dior died on December 9, 1946, a few months before the inauguration of his son's couture house and the resounding success of his first runway show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dior, Maurice 1873 births 1946 deaths French industrialists People from Manche Dior people