Alongside managing his art gallery, Dior cultivated friendships with influential artists, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau, and Alberto Giacometti.

[7] The gallery closed three years later, following the deaths of Dior's mother and brother, as well as financial trouble during the Great Depression that resulted in his father losing control of the family business.

"[12][13] One of his original designs for Piguet, a day dress with a short, full skirt that was in his collection called "Cafe Anglais", was particularly well received.

[20] In 1946, Marcel Boussac, a successful entrepreneur, invited Dior to design for Philippe et Gaston, a Paris fashion house launched in 1925.

[22] In 1946, with Boussac's backing, Dior founded his fashion house, ensuring exclusive control over the company and securing a third of all profits in addition to his salary.

[20] The name of the line of his first collection, presented on 12 February 1947,[23] was Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English).

[4] Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles that had been influenced by the wartime rationing of fabric.

[25] Despite being called "New," the Corolle line was clearly drawn from styles of the Edwardian era,[26][27][28] refining and crystallizing trends in skirt shape and waistline that had been burgeoning in high fashion since the late 1930s.

[72][73] Dior's last collections, such as the “Libre” and “Fuseau” lines, marked a shift toward a more fluid, relaxed silhouette, distancing from the structured designs of earlier years.

[24] Dior died of a sudden heart attack while on vacation in Montecatini, Italy, on 24 October 1957 in the late afternoon while playing a game of cards.

[76][77][78] Dior was nominated for the 1955 Academy Award for Best Costume Design in black and white for the Terminal Station directed by Vittorio De Sica (1953).