{"id":27359,"date":"2026-05-29T23:37:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/27359\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T23:37:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:37:24","slug":"the-true-story-of-catherine-dior-christian-diors-renegade-younger-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/27359\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Story of Catherine Dior, Christian Dior\u2019s Renegade Younger Sister"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first episode of The New Look, Todd A. Kessler\u2019s glossy new Apple TV+ period drama<\/a> charting the epic rivalry between Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, we meet not only the feuding designers (as played by a grizzled Ben Mendelsohn and a glamorous Juliette Binoche) but also those in their illustrious circle, including couturier Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich), his then design assistant Pierre Balmain (Thomas Poitevin), and Chanel\u2019s German lover, the Nazi-affiliated Hans G\u00fcnther von Dincklage (Claes Bang). But, there\u2019s one character who quickly emerges as one of the most fascinating: Christian Dior\u2019s heroic younger sister, Catherine Dior.<\/p>\n

We meet her in 1943, three years into the Nazi occupation of Paris, as she, embodied by Maisie Williams, is accosted by officers who demand to see her papers. When she flees, they chase her and pin her against a wall\u2014only for her to then turn the tables on them. Two members of the French Resistance suddenly appear and shoot the soldiers, and Catherine, startlingly composed, escapes with them. You realize that she was never the damsel in distress\u2014she\u2019d simply set a trap that the Nazis walked into. She is a woman who, despite all the chaos around her, seems to be fully in control of her own destiny.<\/p>\n

But who was the real Catherine Dior? What was her life actually like during the Second World War? And how did she go on to influence the work of her brother? As the show continues to air, we present a full breakdown below.<\/p>\n

Born in 1917 in Granville, in northwestern France, Catherine grew up the youngest of five children born to industrialist Maurice Dior and his wife, Madeleine. Maurice managed a firm which specialized in producing fertilizer, and grew the business into a success, soon moving his growing family into a grand villa. (Their candy-colored mansion now houses the Mus\u00e9e Christian Dior.) However, tragedy was just around the corner: Madeleine died in 1931 and, soon after, an economic downturn and failed real estate ventures decimated the family\u2019s fortune. Maurice\u2019s remaining assets were liquidated, the company sold, and the family forced to vacate their stately home in favor of a dilapidated farmhouse in Provence. There, Catherine supported the family by growing green beans and peas; she would remain green-fingered her whole life.<\/p>\n

By the late 1930s, both Catherine and Christian were living in Paris, but when the Second World War broke out, they returned to the south of France and grew vegetables that they sold in Cannes. It was then that Catherine\u2019s life changed forever\u2014she met Herv\u00e9 des Charbonneries, a passionate member of the French resistance. Despite him being a married father of three, as well as more than a decade older than her, Catherine fell in love with Herv\u00e9, and soon joined the Resistance herself.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Hugo Becker as Herv\u00e9 des Charbonneries and Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior in The New Look.<\/p>\n

Photo: Roger Do Minh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the first episode of The New Look, Todd A. Kessler\u2019s glossy new Apple TV+ period drama charting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12728],"tags":[16458,2793,6475,997,4955,18304,20057],"class_list":["post-27359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-dior","tag-_syndication_noshow","tag-christian-dior","tag-digital_syndication","tag-fashion","tag-lvmh","tag-splitscreenimagerightfullbleed","tag-tv-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}