Christian Dior was a famous French fashion designer born in 1905 in Normandy, France. In 1946 he opened his own design house and revolutionized fashion with his "New Look" collection, featuring nipped-in waists, rounded shoulders, and full skirts. Some of his famous clients included actresses Ava Gardner and Marlene Dietrich. Dior expanded his brand into licensing of accessories. He died of a heart attack in 1957 at age 52, and his assistant Yves Saint Laurent took over leadership of the company.

1. UNIT 1.2 Famous Fashion Designers
Timing. 3 sessions - 1h each
ICT Resources: Open Office Impress | WordCloud | Youtube
Key competences:
• Communication in foreign languages
• Social and civic competences
• Cultural awareness and expression
Objectives:
a. Linguistic:
a.1 Identifying countries and nationalities
a.2 Giving and understand biographic information about others
a.3 Getting to know fashion vocabulary and expressions
b. Non-Linguistic
b.1 Identifying famous world fashion designers
b.2 Matching fashion designers to fashion history and countries
Contents:
a. Linguistic:
a.1 Spelling
a.2 Past tense
a.3 Present tense 3rd
person
b. Non-Linguistic
b.1 Famous fashion designers biographies
b.2 Countries and nationalities
b.3 Clothes and fabrics
Unit plan
Session 1
Set the students in groups and ask them to think of famous female and male designers
they know. Ask them to write down their names. Set a minimum number of names for
each group.
NOTE: If students have access to computers, tablets or mobile phones, you can let
them surf the net and ask them to check spelling.
If students don’t have Internet access in the classroom, you can help them with
the spelling of the names they come up with.
Once all groups have finished, you can use the digital screen to create a word cloud
online (http://www.wordclouds.com) with all names they have, asking each student in a
group to spell a name.
After that you can do some brainstorming, asking about each designer’s nationality or
country of origin, age, marital status, etc so students can work on personal information,
countries and nationalities in English.

2. Session 2
Set the students in groups and tell them they will try to match each picture of a famous
designer with a name, a nationality and some biographic and professional information.
Tell them it’s a game and they will play in groups. Hand them a copy of Worksheet 1
and give them some time to read the information in the worksheets and match all data
they know.
After a short time, tell students they are allowed to ask you questions so they can
match all the information they don’t know. They will be allowed to ask only yes/no
questions, for example, “Is Sophia Tolli Australian?” “Is Francisco Costa the Women’s
Creative Director of Calvin Klein collection?” “Did Coco Chanel die when she was 52?”
You can check they ask questions correctly.
Set turns so if a group ask a question with an affirmative answer they keep their turn
but if they get a “No” for an answer, they’ll lose their turn
The first group who finishes matching all the information correctly will be the winner.
NOTE: If the group is motivated you can complete the lesson with an Open Office
Impress presentation with short bio-information about other fashion designers
Session 3
Set the students in groups and give each one a copy of Worksheet 2. Students will
watch a video about Christian Dior (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYjE48Pj8fg) and
will try to fill in the gaps in their worksheets.
Once you have finished doing the listening comprehension, you can check students’
answers and go through the new vocabulary or expressions they have heard. Do some
talking about Christian Dior’s life or ask students to name their favourite fashion
designer and explain why.
NOTE: Depending on the level of the group, you may find it more convenient to read
the text yourself out loud and check each answer or couple of answers, pausing
to work on vocabulary and expressions.

3. Session 1
Fashion designers

5. Session 2
Fashion designers

6. Student’s worksheet
Look at the tables and fill in the blanks with information in the box
FRANCISCO COSTA 88 an orphanage COCO CHANEL
51 trademark suits brother Chanel 13
Brazil Australia Mon Cheri 44 SOPHIA TOLLI
leather and fur JEREMY LAING Canada 61 Italian
vegetarian Germany DONATELLA VERSACE mother
KARL LAGERFELD France drug addiction England
high starched collars STELLA McCARTNEY daughter 82
draping and layering Calvin Klein’s Collection bridal gowns
1. NAME:
He’s from ___________ and he’s _____ years old .
He’s the head designer and creative director of
the fashion houses _________________ and Fendi.
He is well recognized for his trademark white
hair, black glasses, and _________________.
2. NAME:
She’s from ___________ and she’s _____ years old.
As a committed _______________ and her clothes
reflect that, as she doesn’t use any _______________
in her collections
She is the ____________ of a former Beatles member
3. NAME:
She’s from _____________
She specializes in _________________ and she
collaborates with _________________ label

7. 4. NAME:
She’s from ___________ and she’s _____ years old .
Her ____________ was also a fashion designer. When
he died she took over her eponymous label's
design.
Known for her wild partying lifestyle, she battled
__________________ for many years.
5. NAME:
He was born in _____________ .
He learned to sew at age _______ by watching his
____________, and has been making clothes ever
since.
He has a reputation for sharp tailoring, geometric
construction and _________________ techniques
6. NAME:
She was born in _____________
She was raised in _______________ and taught to sew.
She is famous for her timeless designs,
_______________ and little black dresses.
She died when she was ________________
7. NAME:
He’s _____ years old and he’s from _____________
He is a famous designer and the Women's Creative
Director of _________________
Patricia Conde

8. Teaher’s worksheet 1
Look at the tables and fill in the blanks with information in the box
FRANCISCO COSTA 88 an orphanage COCO CHANEL
51 trademark suits brother Chanel 13
Brazil Australia Mon Cheri 44 SOPHIA TOLLI
leather and fur JEREMY LAING Canada 61 Italian
vegetarian Germany DONATELLA VERSACE mother
KARL LAGERFELD France drug addiction England
high starched collars STELLA McCARTNEY daughter 82
draping and layering Calvin Klein’s Collection bridal gowns
1. NAME: KARL LAGERFELD
He’s from _Germany__ and he’s _82_ years old .
He’s the head designer and creative director of the
fashion houses ____Chanel___ and Fendi.
He is well recognized for his trademark white hair,
black glasses, and _ high starched collars _.
2. NAME: STELLA McCARTNEY
She’s from _ England __ and she’s 44 years old.
As a committed __ vegetarian __ and her clothes
reflect that, as she doesn’t use any _ leather and
fur _ in her collections
She is the daughter of a former Beatles member
3. NAME: SOPHIA TOLLI
She’s from __ Australia _
She specializes in _ bridal gowns __ and she
collaborates with _ Mon Cheri _ label

9. 4. NAME: DONATELLA VERSACE
She’s from __ Italy __ and she’s _61_ years old .
Her __ brother _ was also a fashion designer. When
he died she took over her eponymous label's design.
Known for her wild partying lifestyle, she battled __
drug addiction __ for many years.
5. NAME: JEREMY LAING
He was born in __ Canada ___ .
He learned to sew at age __13__ by watching his _
mother __, and has been making clothes ever since.
He has a reputation for sharp tailoring, geometric
construction and _ draping and layering _
techniques
6. NAME: COCO CHANEL
She was born in __ France _
She was raised in _an orphanage_ and taught to sew.
She is famous for her timeless designs, trademark
suits and little black dresses.
She died when she was ____88_____
7. NAME: FRANCISCO COSTA
He’s _51_ years old and he’s from _Brazil_
He is a famous designer and the Women's Creative
Director of __ Calvin Klein’s Collection _
Patricia Conde

10. Session 3
Christian Dior

11. Celebrities designer
Christian Dior
1. Christian Dior was born in …..
January _____ , _____
2. His family was rich TRUE | FALSE
3. He started his career by selling …
________ _______________
and eventually entered the house of
Lucien Lelong where he learned how to
design clothes.
4. He opened his own design house …
in ___________________
5. What characteristics of Dior’s designs
are mentioned in the video?
• _________ shoulders
• _________ shoulders
• __________ waist
• __________ that drop down to
the __________.
Quick facts
Name
Christian Dior
Occupation
Fashion Designer
Birth Date
January ___, ______
Place of Birth
Granville, France
Education
École des Sciences Politiques
Death Date (age 52)
October 23, ______
Place of Death
Montecatini, Italy
Brilliant businessman
7. Christian Dior expanded the haute
couture into today’s label, licensing for:
• gloves
• ____________
• ___________
• ___________ and,
• corsets.
8. Dior died of a heart attack in …
__________
9. When Dior died his assistant took
leadership of the company. What was
his name?
_______ _________ __________
Early life and career
6. Some of Dior’s famous clients were:
• _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
• _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
• _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
• The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of _ _ _ _ _ _
• _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYjE48Pj8fg

12. Celebrities designer
During the 1950s, Christian Dior was
indisputably the most famous designer in
the world.
Some of Dior’s famous clients included
Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Rita
Hayworth and the Duchess of Windsor.
He was famous for dressing Grace Kelly
and making these women so glamorous
by just accentuated their femininity.
Christian Dior
When you say the words Christian Dior,
you really think French couture.
Dior was anonymous with luxury and
beauty.
Every woman who was any woman
wanted Christian Dior’s clothes.
Christian Dior was born on January 21st
1905 in Normandy, France. Although he
was raised in a wealthy family, his
fashion career had a modest beginning
He had to make his own way in the
world, he did this by selling fashion
illustrations and this gave him and
entrée into the house of Lucien Lelong
and that’s where he learned how to
design clothes.
In 1946, Dior opened his own design
house and revolutionized fashion with
his first collection.
During the war years, there was a fabric
crash and fashion became very subtle
and almost boring, and when Dior
introduced his new look post World War
II, it really was about opulence.
The Christian Dior new look was the
complete opposite of what had been
fashionable for the five previous years:
Dior rocked the shoulder in, sloped it, he
nipped in the waist, and he had
incredibly fall skirts that drop down to
the ankle.
Quick facts
Name
Christian Dior
Occupation
Fashion Designer
Birth Date
January 21, 1905
Place of Birth
Granville, France
Education
École des Sciences Politiques
Death Date (age 52)
October 23, 1957
Place of Death
Montecatini, Italy
Brilliant businessman
A brilliant businessman as well as a
designer. Dior created a fashion empire.
Dior took the haute couture and
expanded it into what we have today:
luxury ready to wear, licensing for gloves
and stockings and perfume and hats
and, at that time, corsets.
He made dozens of licensing
agreements, many of them still in effect
today and he knew how to tap into the
lucrative American market.
Christian Dior died of a heart attack in
1957. His assistant Yves Saint Laurent
took leadership of the company and
the house of Dior lived on. Dior had such
a profound impact on fashion that we
tend to forget how short his career really
was. In just a decade, he managed to
create a legend and a legacy that is still
with us today.