Dual Identity - Public vs. Private
Early in the film, Christian Dior, the voice-over narrator, describes his two personas: the public designer versus his private self.
We can suppose initially that the title of the film “Dior and I” refers to “Dior,” the well-known designer, and “I,” the private Christian Dior.
The opening shot of a woman walking in the street, only her legs and dress are revealed, quickly shifting to her silhouette, foreshadows the story of dual identity that Christian Dior describes in his memoir “Dior by Dior” and is further developed by the film director, Frédéric Tcheng, in Dior and I (2014).
2012 "My Dior" commercial shows the model on two screens (and later even split into more screens) on the Dior storefront:
"It’s ok to be a character it’s like being in a play all the time.
But it’s best if you write your own lines.
What was the second line?
Is this the real me? Fashion says you can be somebody completely different. My dior is my dior is my dior is my, dior. Mine. ya."
This commercial is another reference (figuratively and literally) to the dual identity that Dior details in his memoir.
Following "My Dior" commercial is archival footage of a woman looking in the mirror and seeing herself, or another woman, wearing a completely different outfit. The cross-cut transition to the next scene reveals Dior's image in between these two women or two identities.
Here too, the idea of duality is echoed.