Costume designer Jenny Beavan utilized Dior's historical archives, which contained the designer's original sketchbooks, workbooks, and patterns, to recreate the Dior dresses seen in the movie. Some were vintage pieces borrowed from the house of Dior, some were replicas, and some were inventions designed in the Dior tradition.
Christian Dior himself died of a heart attack on October 24th 1957, the same year this film is set. Although only 52 years old at his time of death he nonetheless looked much older, much like the character in this film.
The first dress shown at the atelier is the famous 1947 New Look, whose groundbreaking new silhouette entered in fashion history after wartime fabric rationing and made Christian Dior a household name.
Budapest stood in for some of the Paris settings. Like its French counterpart, it has much of the same architectural style, narrow cobbled streets and lovely old buildings.
Mrs Harris and Violet Butterfield are seen going to gamble on greyhound racing at White City Stadium in West London. This is factually correct as most forms of gambling were illegal in the UK at the time the film is set. Placing a bet with a licensed bookmaker in person at a racecourse was one of the few legalized ways to gamble. Betting shops (like Ladbrokes, William Hill etc) were not legalized until the Betting & Gambling Act was passed by Parliament in 1960. Mrs Harris is also seen playing the 'Football Pools', another legal way to bet. Football pools fell out of favor with the public after the introduction of the National Lottery in the UK in 1994.