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Dublin will host a three-day exhibition of mid‑century Dior garments in December, offering a close look at archival couture in the city centre. The show arrives one week after Dior’s Pre‑Fall 2027 runway at Trinity College and will display pieces from the Crawford archive alongside notable British and Irish couture.
When and where
The exhibition runs on 9, 10 and 11 December in the Music Room at Powerscourt Townhouse. Admission is free, though organisers advise booking in advance; the booking link is scheduled to go live on Friday, 23 October 2026.
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What will be on display
Visitors will be able to see a selection of mid‑century Dior looks drawn from the Crawford archive. The pieces are for viewing only and will not be offered for sale.
Alongside Dior, the archive highlights mid‑century British and Irish couture, with garments by designers such as Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies, Ian Thomas, Sybil Connolly, Ib Jørgensen and Digby Morton.
Curator and public programme
The exhibition is organised by Carmel Crawford, the Belfast founder of CHC, an independent archive devoted to preserving 20th‑century clothing. She told RTÉ the timing was deliberate: “The exhibition will follow the Dior event at Trinity the previous week, which I felt was the better timing – allowing that event to have its own focus before presenting the archive in a more intimate setting.”
Crawford will also give short talks during the three‑day run. As she explained, “The whole idea of a collection is not simply to have 10 or 12 pieces; it’s so that you can see how a designer progressed in his career.”
Context
The exhibition complements Dior’s Pre‑Fall 2027 runway, scheduled for 4 December in the Long Room at Trinity College. For Dublin audiences, the sequence of events offers both a public fashion presentation and a quieter archival viewing that emphasises historical context and designer development.
