Catherine Dior

Ginette Dior (2 August 1917 – 17 June 2008), better known as Catherine Dior, was a French Resistance fighter during World War II. Involved with the Franco-Polish intelligence unit F2 from November 1941, she was arrested in Paris in July 1944 by the Gestapo, then tortured and deported to the Ravensbrück women concentration camp. Dior was subsequently forced to work in the Torgau military prison, in the Buchenwald satellite camp of Abberode, and finally in a factory near Leipzig. After her release in April 1945, she was awarded several medals of honour for her acts in the Resistance, most notably the Croix de Guerre, the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom, and the Legion of Honour.

After the end of the war, Dior spent the remainder of her life working with flowers: first as a flower trader in Paris, then as a flower farmer in Provence for the production of fragrance. She was close to her brother, the well-known couturier Christian Dior. Launched in 1947, the perfume Miss Dior is often said to have been named after her by Christian. Catherine Dior helped preserve her brother's legacy after his death in 1957, and she became the honorary president of the from 1999 until her death in 2008, aged 90.

Biography Early life Catherine's father Maurice Dior (1872–1946). Pictured c. 1900. Ginette Dior – who later took the name Catherine – was born in Granville, Normandy on 2 August 1917, the youngest child of Maurice Dior (1872–1946), a fertilizer industrialist, and Madeleine Dior, née Martin (1879–1931). She had four siblings: Raymond (the father of Françoise Dior), Jacqueline, Bernard, and the couturier Christian Dior. Following the bankruptcy of the Dior factories in the aftermath of the 1929 financial crash and the death of her mother in 1931, the family settled in 1932 in Callian, near Grasse in Provence. Catherine assisted in the family's survival by growing green beans and peas.

World War II In November 1941, Dior met founding Resistance member Hervé des Charbonneries while shopping in Cannes. She fell in love with him; Trolley de Prévaux was arrested in Marseille during the same month. She then moved to Callian, Provence, buying there a rose farm for the production of fragrance, Christian Dior's testament will, dated 30 August 1957, bequeathed his possessions to be equally shared between his sister Catherine and Raymonde Zehnacker, his right-hand woman. He died from a heart attack on 23 October the same year, aged 52.

The fragrance Miss Dior, presented on 12 February 1947 during the first fashion show of the company, might have been named after her. Although the relation is not confirmed by Dior's official website, the story is often mentioned by journalists. (See for instance.)

She kept on preserving the legacy of her brother until her death. In 1999, Dior inaugurated the opening of the in Granville. As well as donating a dress that belonged to her mother, Madeleine Dior, she became the museum's honorary president.

In popular culture Christine Wells' 2021 novel Sisters of the Resistance tells of two young women, Yvette and Gabby, who become involved in Catherine Dior's resistance activities.

In The New Look, a television series debuting 14 February 2024 on Apple TV+, Maisie Williams plays Catherine Dior.