Christian Dior & Roger Vivier: How They Invented the Modern Stiletto

Christian Dior and Roger Vivier helped define the look of 1950s fashion, from Dior’s revolutionary New Look to the elegant high heels that completed the silhouette. Their collaboration brought haute couture and shoemaking together at one of the most influential moments in twentieth-century fashion history. Roger Vivier approached footwear almost like sculpture. Working with Christian Dior during the 1950s, he created extraordinary shoes that complemented Dior’s couture silhouettes and experimented with new heel shapes, luxurious materials, embroidery, jewels, and increasingly daring construction. This fashion history essay explores the relationship between Christian Dior and Roger Vivier, the development of the modern stiletto heel, the famous Choc or comma heel, and the transformation of luxury footwear in the postwar era. We also follow Vivier’s influence beyond Dior, including his famous buckle shoes associated with Catherine Deneuve and the enduring place of his designs in fashion history. 00:00 Christian Dior & Roger Vivier: 1950s Fashion History 00:44 Postwar Fashion and the Return of Haute Couture 01:21 Christian Dior’s New Look Revolution, 1947 02:12 Roger Vivier: The Sculptor of Shoes 03:30 Christian Dior and Roger Vivier Collaboration 04:42 History of the Stiletto Heel 05:55 Roger Vivier Haute Couture Shoes 06:22 Roger Vivier’s Choc / Comma Heel 07:34 Christian Dior After 1957 08:24 Catherine Deneuve and Roger Vivier Buckle Shoes 09:12 Roger Vivier and Modern Lux