From Christian Dior’s founding years to today’s Jonathan Anderson, the history of the Dior house runs deep. With 80 years under its belt, the French luxury house is no short of icons at its lead. As the founding couturier, Christian Dior’s adolescence remains a significant influence on the maison’s codes. Now, his memory is chronicled between the clothbound hard covers of the maison’s newest book, Dior. Memories of Childhood.

Dior by Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior – Christian Bérard author Laurence Benaïm recounts the designer’s Normandy upbringing, an inspiring period later channeled into the folds of Christian Dior’s timeless collections, which remain relevant and are reinterpreted by every contemporary Artistic Director of the house.

Through illustration and fashion photography from the maison, Christian Dior’s life unfolds through the turn of each of the 168 pages. Beginning at the family villa, Les Rhumbs in Graville—pictured in pink on the book’s cloth cover—the space was sacred for the designer, the birthplace of his and his mother’s shared passion for gardening. It was also the space where he inherited his entrepreneurial dreams from his father, which led Dior to found his maison de couture. His life in Granville, its festivals and carnivals, was the genesis of his fascination with costumes and gowns, soon translated into the maison’s tulle-filled silhouettes.

Dior. Memories of Childhood is currently available for purchase in Europe and for pre-order in the US at rizzoliusa.com.