I had the privilege of being offered a private visit of the Christian Dior exhibit at the Montreal McCord Museum last week before its official opening, as a close childhood friend was featured as a model in one of the iconic Dior dresses, the Bella gown.  For the record, my friend Pascale looks stunning in that dress, just like one of the original Dior models.

During the first few minutes of my visit, I did feel a tad conflicted about the exhibit.  Does displaying this kind of rarified luxury and opulence make sense in these current times? After capturing a glimpse of the beautiful dresses, the exquisite fabrics and the seeing the vintage video footing and witnessing all the research that went into it, the answer came as a resounding yes.  Right now, we all need to escape reality and to dream.  And this is precisely what beauty allows us to do.