CHRISTIAN DIOR, COUTURIER-PERFUMER

From 1947 onwards Christian Dior proclaimed his desire to be as much a perfumer as he was a couturier: he created Miss Dior, his first perfume, alongside his very first fashion collection.

Passionate about flowers, he sketched the contours of a veritable style for Dior's perfumes, breathing into them all the modernity featured in his creations.

February 12, 1947. In his salons at 30, avenue Montaigne, Christian Dior presented his very first collection.

His sensual creations celebrated triumphant femininity: this was the birth of a revolution, dubbed the New Look.

To accompany these cutting-edge looks, the couturier commissioned perfumer Paul Vacher to create a modern and sophisticated fragrance: "Make me a perfume that smells of love", he requested.

Sprayed abundantly in the salons on the day of the fashion show, Miss Dior became the perfume of the New Look.

This elegant green chypre – a subtle balance of citrus fruits, flowers and patchouli – expressed a new femininity, free and independent, able to break free from traditional codes.

Very early on, Christian Dior developed a passion for flowers.

As a child he learned their Latin names, created his herbariums and passed many hours in the rose garden of the family home in Granville.

Having become a couturier he drew inspiration from flowers when designing the silhouettes of the New Look.

He adorned women with dancing corollas and gave many dresses the names of flowers.

The couturier wore a sprig of lily of the valley in his buttonhole at every fashion show and he also had it stitched into the hems of his dresses for good luck.

"The other night I dreamed that I was a little boy again and I returned to Granville with my mother (...) we left together from the other side of the entrance, towards my roses, towards all the scents of flowers, of the women of my enchanted estate"

--- Christian Dior

Dior perfumes still represent all the passions of the couturier who founded the label.

Christian Dior's love of flowers naturally led to the creation of numerous fragrances with a floral heart.

This proliferation of flowers has become characteristic of Dior perfumes.

The couturier who created the New Look designed a structured fashion in order to flatter women's figures.

He designed his perfumes in the same way, working on their construction as he would the most beautiful of evening gowns.

The ultimate accessory, the final touch to a look, the perfume is constructed with the same precision and excellence demanded of Haute Couture.

"I feel as much a Couturier as a Perfumer"

--- Christian Dior