Marc Bohan, a fashion visionary and the longest-serving designer at Dior, has died at 97, the French luxury fashion house said.
“Dior is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Marc Bohan, an immense and influential visionary who was Creative Director of our House for nearly three decades,” Dior said in a late Friday statement on social network X.
“His originality and modernity have never ceased to inspire. Our thoughts are with his family and friends,”
Bohan, who died on September 6, began working for Christian Dior in 1957, creating collections in London.
He became the house’s third artistic director in 1961, when he was asked to lead the French label after his predecessor Yves Saint Laurent was drafted into the French military.
He went on to oversee the brand as artistic director for nearly three decades until 1989, developing a reputation for creating stylish, feminine clothes for a wealthy clientele that included Princess Grace of Monaco, movie stars Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor and opera diva Maria Callas.