It's late in the evening of February 12, 1947, inside a newly opened fashion house in Paris, France.

Forty-year-old fashion designer Christian Diorauch his watch, his foot tapping nervously on the floor.

A seamstress rushes by, a dress draped over her arm.

Across the room, a model calls out unsure what she should be wearing.

Two months ago, Christian opened his first fashion house in Paris.

Since then, Parisian society has been waiting for this day, eager to see

what designs he would unveil, and in less than five minutes, the room will be packed. But many of the

preparations for Christian's debut collection coming down to the last moment. As a worker taxed down a velvet

carpet, Christian notices the edge on the other side curling upward.

Without hesitation, he grabs a hammer and drops to one knee, fixing the problem himself.

With that done, Christian rises and then moves to the front window.

He pulls back the curtain, and outside, a crowd stretches down the street.

There must be more than 200 people, and the fashion house only

has seating for barely half of them, but it's too late to do anything about that now.

So Christian turns back to the room and stops in front of the first model. She spins slowly,

her floor-length dress catching the light. Christian smiles. It's exactly what he hoped for, boldly feminine

and unmistakably elegant. He kisses the model on both cheeks and takes one final look around the

room, the circle of chairs, the open space for the models to present his clothes, everything is ready,

so Christian nods toward the door. The time has come to show the world what he's

been working on.

Over the next two hours, Christian Dior will do more than just unveil his first fashion

collection. The elegance and optimism of his designs will capture the imagination of women

...