It is a little known fact outside fashion circles that in 1948, Melbourne and Sydney played host to the first showings of Christian Dior's couture designs outside of Paris.
The showcases led to local designer Douglas Cox convincing Dior to allow his designs to be made in Melbourne, although the collaboration only lasted a season when it was deemed the pieces were too avant garde for Australian tastes at the time.
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Inside the House of Dior
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In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the House of Dior, the National Gallery of Victoria presents The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture.
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Inside the House of Dior
In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the House of Dior, the National Gallery of Victoria presents The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture.
Still, Dior has built and maintained a strong presence locally, with the company celebrating the opening of its first menswear boutique just last week at Chadstone.
Seventy years since its inception at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Melbourne will play host to a major retrospective of pieces from the French atelier to commemorate the anniversary.
Curator Katie Somerville said a whole section will be devoted to the links between the House of Dior and Australia.
"Many people ... have not been aware [of the Australian connection] ... so for a general audience that will be quite the revelation," she said.
The show, which will feature more than 140 garments, including replicas from Dior's original 1947 "New look" collection, is one of three major events worldwide being held to honour the fashion house, from its creator to its current head designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Ms Somerville said the project had "long been on the wish list" but ultimately took three years to come together.
"What we wanted to do from the outset was not to take an existing project or something that was touring but to be in there from the ground, building a project that hadn't been seen before," she said.
She said the gallery has secured pieces from all six head designers of the house, right up to Chiuri's first collection, which will be available in January 2017.
"Each of them have continued the legacy and spirit and philosophy of the house but also brought their own contribution and vision."
That includes work by John Galliano, who was fired from the house in 2011 after making antisemitic remarks in a highly-publicised incident in Paris.Â
"It's not about pretending he wasn't there," Ms Somerville said. "It would be wrong to block that period or edit that. His contribution will be allowed to speak for itself, within the continuum of a bigger picture."
Ms Somerville said the exhibition will also aim to explain the broader concepts around couture, including a replica of a couture workroom, or atelier.Â
"We're creating a whole space that really is quite evocative," she said. "It's one thing to live stream a parade … but to actually be as close as you will be to the garments themselves. You can never read a garment as well as when you can when you see it in three dimensions."
Sidney Toledano, chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, added: "This will be Dior as if one has been transported to the world of 30 Avenue Montaigne, experiencing the mansion from the ateliers to the salons."
Fashion exhibitions have become a mainstay of the gallery's annual program, with attendances at the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition in 2014-15 reaching 227,000.
The Dior exhibition will also see the gallery stage its first NGV Gala ball, a ticketed black-tie event which will support the gallery's fashion and textiles collection.
A spokesman said more details, including a possible theme, would be released in the new year.
The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture will run from August 27-November 7, 2017. Tickets: ngv.vic.gov.au.