He funded a dress Britain banned. It built LVMH's 400 billion empire.

France's richest man paid Christian Dior to defy wartime rationing. Eight times the fabric per dress. Boussac's cotton warehouses moved.

In 1946 Christian Dior was 42 and unknown. Marcel Boussac, France's biggest cotton baron, offered to bankroll his own label. Boussac put up six million francs. Both knew Boussac's mills were sitting on warehouses of unsold fabric. Europe was four years into rationing. In 1947 Dior showed his first collection. Each dress used up to 20 yards of fabric. Cinched waists, padded hips, skirts to the calf — the opposite of every wartime silhouette. Harper's Bazaar editor Carmel Snow named it on the spot: the New Look. Within two years Dior was 5% of all French export earnings. Boussac's cotton moved. Dior died ten years later. His 21-year-old hire, Yves Saint Laurent, took the house. Today LVMH owns Dior. Market cap: 400 billion dollars. Dior was Boussac's biggest customer, disguised as his investment.

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