First, a little history on Christian Dior: he started his fashion house at the end of World War II and first rose to prominence during the 1950s. He was lauded for bringing about the return of opulence in fashion after a time when rationing and war had forcibly simplified style for most people (and in marked contrast to Chanel's wartime designs in activewear). With full skirts and cinched waists, Christian Dior's designs represented a post-war return to more historically traditional gender roles that would now be labeled as antiquated and restrictive. This summer, he is being honored as the subject of a vast, fashion retrospective at Paris's Musée des Arts Décoratifs celebrating the fashion house's 70th anniversary. The exhibition drives home the connection between the 1950s designs as a stylistic homage to those of the 18th-century aristocracy, like Marie Antoinette, by displaying his designs side by side with those of noblewomen in similar silhouettes.