It's incredible just how much difference it makes when a fashion house keeps a distinct and deep archive. That is one of the first things you notice when walking through the rich, historical and quite contemporary Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, on view through February 20, 2022, for which Juxtapoz has now visited twice just to experience and take in the sheer amount of "work" in the presentation. We noted the "quite contemporary" part of the show because Dior isn't a fashion house that just looks back; there is a lot of present tense and looking to the future. Designer of Dreams demonstrates that the initial vision is still very much here, and the playfulness and unique vision of Dior was apparent from the moment of its inception. 

The dresses, of course, are the main focus, but in terms of the way the show is presented, the museum and its curators definitely had playfulness in mind. There are experimental uses of mirros, color swatches, moods, eras, and the multiple designers themselves. They play on the fantasy of fashion, turning the atrium of the museum into an almost folkloric Cinderella ball. What my eye was drawn to was the photos from the Dior archive, the way that famous photographers, celebrities, models and the like have interpreted the Dior look. 

But mainly, its the way we look at fabrics, design, fit, fantasy and lineage that makes the show so fun and immersive. These types of shows remind us that fashion can be art, and that exhibition design is so damn vital to understanding what it is we came to see. —Evan Pricco