Christian Dior: The French designer who brought chic to Scotland

But it was the traditional Scottish dancing that followed the fashion show that Dior remembered when writing his autobiography.

“After the show, there was an unexpected contrast which delighted my French eyes: The parade of girls in their delicate evening dresses was succeeded by Scottish reels danced by magnificent Scottish gentlemen in their kilts,” he wrote in Dior by Dior, first published in 1956, a year before his death.

“It looked wonderful, but beneath the frenzied stampings of the dancers, the floor shook and bounced, and we were all nervous that it would collapse.

“Noticing the worried expressions on our faces, the Lord Provost told us that the wooden floor was specially constructed to shake beneath our feet, in order to give the reels added animation.”