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Girl in Dior
by
Winner of:
YALSA 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens
In February of 1947, the crème de la crème of Paris haute couture have flocked to see Christian Dior’s debut fashion show. In a flurry of corolla shaped skirts, the parade of models file down the runway and the mesmerized audience declares the show a triumph. When Clara—a freshly hired chronicler and guide to the busy corr ...more
YALSA 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens
In February of 1947, the crème de la crème of Paris haute couture have flocked to see Christian Dior’s debut fashion show. In a flurry of corolla shaped skirts, the parade of models file down the runway and the mesmerized audience declares the show a triumph. When Clara—a freshly hired chronicler and guide to the busy corr ...more
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Hardcover, 128 pages
Published
April 1st 2015
by NBM ComicsLit
(first published October 31st 2013)
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Girl in Dior is sort of out of my wheelhouse, focused as it is on fashion, and the Paris artist/author did a lot of glamour fashion comics work (she died last year at 66, RIP). I read this because I had just read her book about Collette, which I thought was just all right, and saw that a couple of my Goodreads friends liked this. It’s a kind of historical fictional story of Christian Dior’s fashion house focused on the later years before Dior died at 52.
Clara is a young journalist who meets Dio ...more
Clara is a young journalist who meets Dio ...more

This is an odd sort of graphic novel, if that is what you want to call it, I'm not sure. It's basically a shallow history of Christian Dior through the eyes of Clara. Through a strange set of circumstances she becomes a Dior model and this story vaguely follows some of her life as she works in Paris.
I say vaguely, and now I'm going to give two reviews for this book.
My first review is for the graphic part of the graphic novel. The illustrations are beautiful. I could look at them over and over ag ...more
I say vaguely, and now I'm going to give two reviews for this book.
My first review is for the graphic part of the graphic novel. The illustrations are beautiful. I could look at them over and over ag ...more

Mechanically well constructed. Beautiful binding, beautiful paper, beautiful colours that suit the 1940s glamour... but, other than mechanics... it was boring. There was no passion or feelings. It just fell flat. I would summarize the story as: "first my life was ok, then it was ok, and then it was ok again." Disappointing.
...more

Every now and then I get into a phase where I am really into fashion, past and present. You would never know it to look at me but I am totally into the fashion scene...the girlier the better. And Dior is one of my favorites. This was a graphic novel about a young writer who becomes a model for Dior through some random circumstances...and then stops modeling when she falls in love. I loved the story and I loved the pictures...not much more than that to say about it...other than it was a fast and
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Girl in Dior caught my eye in the library because I'm hoping to take my wife to the Dior exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. Knowing almost nothing about fashion or Christian Dior, I thought it would help give me some framework for the exhibit. It seems good for that, and I look forward to seeing some of these names and events at the museum.
I like the artwork, cleverly arranged in panels and from page to page. The titular character is fictional, and the story of Dior as seen in these pages is s ...more
I like the artwork, cleverly arranged in panels and from page to page. The titular character is fictional, and the story of Dior as seen in these pages is s ...more

A girl falls into the world of high fashion and then out of it and then back in again. A so-so storyline that should have been elevated by, come on, Dior! Sadly, that was not the case.
I would have enjoyed this more if it had just been panels of the dresses rather than pretending to be a story.
Literally, a girl in Dior on each page would have been epic.
Only recommended for serious fashionistas or those who study graphic novel art. Every one else, strut your stuff on down the library aisle and pic ...more
I would have enjoyed this more if it had just been panels of the dresses rather than pretending to be a story.
Literally, a girl in Dior on each page would have been epic.
Only recommended for serious fashionistas or those who study graphic novel art. Every one else, strut your stuff on down the library aisle and pic ...more

12th February, 1947: Fashion designer Christian Dior, from a family that manufactured fertilizers and detergent but crashed in the 30s, has now—with financing by a textile giant—set up his own fashion house, and today is the day Dior opens its doors to welcome a list of elite invitees to view its inaugural designs. Alongside the likes of Rita Hayworth and Carmel Snow (of Harper’s Bazaar) is a quiet, timid journalist named Clara Nohant, come to report on the show for a fashion magazine.
Clara’s ar ...more
Clara’s ar ...more

First of all, the illustrations in this book are stunning. 5 stars for the art. Zero stars for the story. It was a weird focus of some random facts about Dior and a fictional character named Clara being magically intertwined with the Dior fashion house. Clara's story wasn't believable at all, and Dior's story wasn't coherent. The actual text on each page was confusing and vague. The characters' dialogue was composed of everyone saying one line that had little to do with the lines that came befor
...more

GIRL IN DIOR
Written and Illustrated by Annie Goetzinger
2015; NBM Publishing (128 pages)
Genre: Graphic novel, fashion, imagined life
(Review Not on Blog)
RATING: 3.5 STARS
I love the illustrations, especially of the Dior dresses, but the book does lack in real storytelling. We get to see the "life" and fashion of Dior, but don't really gleam anything further than what we can read on Wikipedia. I enjoyed it for the dresses and images.
...more
Written and Illustrated by Annie Goetzinger
2015; NBM Publishing (128 pages)
Genre: Graphic novel, fashion, imagined life
(Review Not on Blog)
RATING: 3.5 STARS
I love the illustrations, especially of the Dior dresses, but the book does lack in real storytelling. We get to see the "life" and fashion of Dior, but don't really gleam anything further than what we can read on Wikipedia. I enjoyed it for the dresses and images.
...more

Winner of: YALSA 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
You only have to look at the cover to know that the art is beautiful. It is so lovely that I flipped through this graphic novel several times. Given the lovely art the lackluster story is doubly disappointing. It reads like a boring memoir or biography of a woman whose life intersects with Christian Dior (yes, that Dior), but then at the end you read that this woman, the main character in this story, is a figment of the author's imagination, a ...more
You only have to look at the cover to know that the art is beautiful. It is so lovely that I flipped through this graphic novel several times. Given the lovely art the lackluster story is doubly disappointing. It reads like a boring memoir or biography of a woman whose life intersects with Christian Dior (yes, that Dior), but then at the end you read that this woman, the main character in this story, is a figment of the author's imagination, a ...more

I get what other reviewers are saying about this book, that the story is slight and that it seems a little chaotic, but I enjoyed it for its elegance and for the bitter-sweet ending. The art is sensational, I would buy this for the picture of the outfit called "Amour" alone (page 19 in my edition) - amazing color and movement! I also loved the way that the colors in the book became muted toward the end, reflecting well the narrative. I've always had a fascination with the fashion world and its p
...more

Clunky. Underdeveloped. Beautiful pictures of dresses. Not a very good biography of Dior or creating the Dior dress. This could have been fantastic, but it didn't even reach the fail point. It never lifted off the ground. Not good. The one star is given not out of hatred (which is usually the reason for me) but because I came into this book with little expectations and I left feeling "Wow. What was the point of that?" There is no story, no character development, hardly any bones of biography or
...more

How serendipitous it was to read this book at the same time I read Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris. Both take on Dior and fashion and Paris as they were, and, read together, complement each other like a good wine with a delicious entree.
The story is simple: a young poor girl is plucked from the crowd to become a fabulous Dior model. It's the stuff of fairy tales, with the girl sent out into the world of the rich and famous where she finds a suitably rich husband and lives a grand life.
But the streng ...more
The story is simple: a young poor girl is plucked from the crowd to become a fabulous Dior model. It's the stuff of fairy tales, with the girl sent out into the world of the rich and famous where she finds a suitably rich husband and lives a grand life.
But the streng ...more

This one was frankly just a bit odd for me. On the positive side I loved the art in the book. On the negative, it felt like it was missing substance. Heck even the forward isn't even worth reading (they basically jabber awkwardly and then just tell you they haven't even read the book). Its interesting to see the beginnings of the Dior fashion house from the inside, but it just left me wanting something more from the characters and the story as a whole.
...more

Feb 27, 2017
AJ
rated it
it was ok
Recommends it for:
No one unless you're a fan of Dior's New Look or fashion in general
Recommended to AJ by:
The title--I adore fashion and the New Look!
Shelves:
grade-c-two-stars
Book Summary—This is a graphic novel depicting the fictitious heroine, Clara Nohant, who becomes a Dior model.
My Review—Aside from the fashion, I didn’t like it. I’ve read one other graphic novel before and, as with that one, I found the story hard to follow, choppy and without any “meat.”
I know that graphic novels don’t (or can’t) get into the details the way a real novel does (and can), but I just found the story boring. In fact, it kept putting me to sleep. If it weren’t for the fashion, I ne ...more
My Review—Aside from the fashion, I didn’t like it. I’ve read one other graphic novel before and, as with that one, I found the story hard to follow, choppy and without any “meat.”
I know that graphic novels don’t (or can’t) get into the details the way a real novel does (and can), but I just found the story boring. In fact, it kept putting me to sleep. If it weren’t for the fashion, I ne ...more

Five stars for the art, three stars for the heavily fictionalized story. I laughed when the main character informed me that when Christian Dior had to come up with his new collection, he went to his château near Fontainebleu with only his cook and his driver for company. Can you imagine? Only his cook and his driver! My God, it's almost like camping!
...more

Mar 21, 2019
Jessica
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
comic-books,
art-fash-house
The illustrations are beautiful, they remind me of vintage fashion plates. The story provides a lot of historical context, but is kind of lackluster.

The first thing to know about Girl in Dior is that it's not really a story. Sure, the book claims to be an overview of Dior's last ten years of life through the eyes of a fictional model, but really the book is all about pictures of pretty clothing. And the dresses are SO pretty. There are moments of history that are intriguing, but readers are going to have to look elsewhere for a more extensive explanation. This book is just here to be pretty and it does that job well! Ask it for anything else
...more

I confess, I had no idea this was a graphic novel when I checked the e-book out from the library. In some ways, a graphic novel is a great way to talk about classic Dior fashion because the illustrations were gorgeous. Unfortunately the text and the story were practically non-existant. It was pretty much just a great way to see beautiful illustrations of gorgeous gowns but I know nothing new about Dior at all.

Three stars for the gorgeous pictures, as the story doesn't have much heft. This is essentially an exceedingly brief biography of Christian Dior set during the early days of his studio as told through the eyes of a fictional character who becomes one of his models. The dialogue is stilted, the shifts between scenes abrupt, but oh - the gorgeous drawings of the dresses was enough to keep me engaged.
...more

This graphic novel is about the last 10 years of Christian Dior's career told in the perspective of a fictional model. Unfortunately, both the art and the plot progression were underwhelming. It appears the author's aim was to showcase the impact and legacy of Dior's creations, but the author focused on so many aspects of his life and in such a surface manner that she did not succeed.
...more

The drawings are beautiful, but I didn't care for the story, took me forever to pick it up to finish it.
...more

Pretty but I'm not sure why it needed fictionalized. Surely there could have been an interesting non fiction angle. The artwork was lovely though.
...more
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