Born: Paris, France, 1926
‘Marc Bohan is small, dark and quicksilver, and a most sophisticated man as befitting the artistic director of Christian Dior, the house that spells the ultimate in luxury for perhaps the greatest number of people in the world,’ said Vogue in The Perfectionists’ in 1974.
Bohan has a meticulous design pedigree: he worked at Jean Patou in 1945, Robert Piquet in 1946 and Edward Molyneux in 1950, returning to Patou in 1953 as designer of the haute couture collections. In 1958 Bohan spent time in America, familiarizing himself with Seventh Avenue. He prepared and designed the Christian Dior London collections in 1958, and in September 1960 he travelled to England to create their ready-to-wear collections. In 1960, on his appointment as artistic director at Christian Dior, Bohan returned to Paris, where he continued to produce immaculate collections for Dior until 1989. In 1990 Bohan was persuaded to return to London to Hartnell, which had been floundering since its founder’s death. Although Bohan’s collections were well received, financial difficulties and lack of licensing income meant Hartnell had to close. On his appointment at Hartnell, Bohan recalled Molyneux’s advice, which he had adhered to all his life: ‘Amuse yourself with sketches, not with dresses.’
