Why on earth does my local BC library have a copy of an exhibition catalogue from the Royal Ontario Museum about French couture master, Christian Dior? Who knows, but I am super glad that they do!!! Dior is one of my all time favourite designers, and one of my favourite fashion houses, and I am glad that the ROM curated what was presumably an excellent exhibition on the designer and produced a world-class catalogue to accompany it. Alexandra Palmer’s exposition on the history of the House of Dior, his place in the timeline of French fashion and couture, and on his influence on the fashion adjacent fields was bar none one of the best I have ever read. Her language was perfectly suited to a general audience, but contained the lovely linguistic flourishes dictated by any legitimate discussion of French couture - albeit with a reasonable amount of explanation for the fashion initiates, which was still much appreciated by those of us who still struggle with our (lack of) French. Taking us through all of the details behind the scenes of couture, she traces her way through the continual rising and dropping of hemlines, into the linings, and across the (distribution) world through an exploration grounded in the plethora of Christian Dior pieces in the ROM’s collection. Paired with a stunning range of even more carefully curated images of the costumes, original sketches, contemporary photographs, reimagined patterns, and more, we are treated to a moody but beautifully detailed story that showcases Christian Dior’s physical legacy at its best. Truely a behind the scenes glimpse, I don’t know if anyone besides a museum of calibre (such as this) or Dior Héritage themselves could have pulled off such a detailed and robust publication. ( )