"Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams" with Page Knox

On Monday, January 24, 2022, Page Knox joined Darien Library to give us a preview of the "Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams" exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

“Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” at the Brooklyn Museum traces the history and legacy of the House of Dior from its inception to current day. Bringing to life Dior’s many sources of inspiration, this visually stunning exhibition features over two hundred haute couture garments along with photographs, sketches, accessories and works of art.

Join Page Knox for a closer look at the legendary Christian Dior, the pioneer designer of the firm with his iconic “New Look,” and the artistic directors who succeeded him, including Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano and most recently, Maria Grazia Chiuri. Explore how the constantly innovative yet classic designs by the house of Dior reflect the changing nature of contemporary fashion and the styles of our times.

About the Presenter
Page Knox is an adjunct professor in the Art History Department of Columbia University, where she received her PhD in 2012. She works in a variety of capacities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art giving public gallery talks and lectures in special exhibitions as well as the permanent collection, teaching classes at the museum, and leading groups for Travel with the Met.

Page graduated from Yale University and was a double major in Art History and Economics. Upon graduation, Page spent her twenties in the financial world. Before returning to graduate school, she worked at the Yale Center for British Art. At Columbia, she received a PhD with a focus in American Art, while her minor field was Renaissance painting, specifically Leonardo da Vinci. Her dissertation, Scribner's Monthly 1870-1881: Illustrating a New American Art World, explored the significant expansion of illustration in print media during the 1870s, using Scribner's Monthly as a lens to examine how the medium changed the general aesthetic in American art in the late nineteenth century.

She continues to publish and lecture at various conferences on the subject and is a contributing author for a recently released textbook on the history of illustration. In addition to her Art Humanities class, she also teaches summer courses at Columbia that focuses on American Art and Trans-Atlantic Exchange during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.