Professor Butter Beard and Christian Dior’s “Mini Miss Dior”
“Everything I know, see or hear, every part of my life is transformed into dresses. They are my daydreams, but they have passed from dreamland into the world of everyday items to wear.” - Christian Dior
The beginning of May. A dreamland flurry of celebrations and memories. First up is Beltane, the Celtic holiday that celebrates the time of year when the God and Goddess are equal in power and the masculine and feminine energies are united, celebrated with traditions such as fertility rites, fire festivals, and dancing around the maypole. Then the sweep of personal memories of May 4th, 1970, when young Vietnam War protestors gave up their greatest gift at Kent State University for their cause. And, oddly, on the same day we celebrate “The Force,” and may it always be with you. Cinco de Mayo, (Spanish for "Fifth of May") quickly follows as the annual celebration of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 and provides a great excuse to break out the masa and corn husks!
But then, the Grand Dame herself arrives! The “Met Gala” or “Met Ball,” is the annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Gala, always held on the first Monday of May, is popularly regarded as the world's most prestigious and glamorous fashion event and social gathering and is often referred to as “fashion's biggest night.” Personalities who are perceived to be culturally relevant to contemporary society amongst various professional spheres, including fashion, film, television, music, theater, business, sports, social media, and politics, are personally invited to attend the event, organized by the fashion magazine Vogue and its Queen, Anna Wintour.
This year, the Gala theme is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” The corresponding Metropolitan exhibition will open on May 10th, and according to the curators, “Approximately 250 garments and accessories spanning four centuries will be on view, visually united by iconography related to nature, which will serve as a metaphor for the fragility and ephemerality of fashion and a vehicle to examine the cyclical themes of rebirth and renewal. The exhibition will breathe new life into these storied objects through creative and immersive activations designed to convey the smells, sounds, textures, and motions of garments that can no longer directly interact with the body.”
As I perused the exhibition’s catalogue (which I purchased immediately upon release), I found myself returning again and again to step inside the delicious creations of the “House of Dior” and its founder, Monsieur Christian Dior himself.
“After women, flowers are the most divine creations,” wrote Dior in his “Little Dictionary of Fashion,” published in 1954. He continued, when reflecting on his spring/summer 1953 “Tulipe” line, “The colors were inspired by the painting of the Impressionists and evoked the fields of flowers dear to Renoir and Van Gogh.” Be still my heart! Dior’s love of art began before his career in fashion, as he briefly co-owned a gallery with his friend Jacques Bonjean, staging shows featuring artists such as the Cubists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, as well as the Fauvist Henri Matisse.
According to the Metropolitan curators, model number eighty-nine in Dior’s spring/summer 1949 “Trompe-l’oeil” line, “Miss Dior” was described in the show notes as a “short evening dress embroidered with a thousand flowers.” The dress itself bears the same name as Dior’s first perfume, which allegedly honors his sister Catherine, and suggests the scent’s floral notes of iris, rose, jasmine, gardenia, narcissus, carnation, and lily of the valley (Dior’s favorite flower).
The House of Dior has repeatedly returned to “Miss Dior” as the emblem of its passionate founder. The “Mini Miss Dior,” this week’s primary work of art (and included within the Met’s exhibition), is a miniature of Dior’s original. In 1945, a touring exhibition named “Le Théâtre de la Mode” was organized to benefit war relief efforts and to demonstrate the continued vitality and savoir faire of the haute couture. The show included 170 ensembles by 40 leading couturiers displayed on fashion mannequins measuring 27 1/2 inches high. Dior contributed three of the ensembles, produced with the same virtuosic, artisanal exactitude as it full-scale sister, with silk flowers cut, modeled and embroidered by hand by Maison Lemarié.
“We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers,” wrote Dior. “I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like Ilana and wide skirts like corolla.”
Thank you, Monsieur Dior. You and “Miss Dior” inspired me to step into my kitchen this morning and create an homage to your passion. I meticulously cracked open each cardamom pod and painstakingly removed the seeds to grind into the most aromatic contribution to a cake as light as a spring breeze floating through your floral daydreams. I garnished it with spring roses and presented it to my neighbors as a thank you for their continued love and care for Nellie when I step away to visit the Metropolitan or an evening of theater.
Like you, everything I know, see or hear, every part of my life is transformed into my art – my baking. The recipes are my daydreams, “but they have passed from dreamland into the world of everyday items” to share with those we love.
Cardamom Sponge Bundt Cake
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine sea salt
6 large eggs, room temperature
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp cardamom seeds (removed from shell and finely ground)
1 tsp vanilla paste
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your prettiest bundt pan with baking spray with flour. Use a pastry brush to evenly coat the side of the pan.
2) Crack open the cardamom pods and remove enough seeds to measure 1 ½ tsps. Finely grind them with a mortar and pestle and set aside.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4) Separate the eggs – the whites into the bowl of a standing mixer and the yolks in a small bowl. Add the ½ tsp cream of tartar to the whites and whip until stiff peaks form. Use a spatula to remove the whites to a glass bowl. Don’t wash the bowl.
5) Return the bowl to the mixer and whisk together the sugar, cardamom, yolks, and vanilla until creamy yellow, about one minute.
6) Remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the whites, in thirds, just until combined. Add the flour mixture, in thirds, gently folding until just combined.
7) Gently add the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 20-21 minutes until golden in color and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
8) Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto your serving plate. Lightly dust the top with granulated sugar.
