Exactly one year after the couturier-perfumer’s former residence, the Château de La Colle Noire, reopened in Grasse, the Musée International de la Parfumerie is going back on the history of Dior’s perfumes. Born at the end of the Belle Époque, just as modern perfumery was being propelled by Coco Chanel, Christian Dior never ceased to infuse all his passion and fascination for flowers into this industry. After composing the famed femme-fleur silhouette, Monsieur Dior also invented his own destiny as a couturier-perfumer. By immediately creating Miss Dior to accompany his New Look silhouettes with a “wake of desire”, Dior anchored French perfumery in the Grasse region.
From his garden in Granville, Normandy to his years working in a gallery in the Paris of the Roaring 20s up until the Occupation, where he took refuge near Grasse with his family, this exhibit brings visitors on a walk through the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of one extraordinary man. In his last home, the Château de La Colle Noire, he planted dozens of acres of vineyards, trees, May roses, lavender, and jasmine. This passion was shared by his sister Catherine, who was also a cultivator of flowers for perfumes.
Dior perfumes were imagined to create the essential finishing touch for any look – Miss Dior dresses from today and yesterday enter into dialogue here with various Diorama, Eau Fraîche, Diorrissimo, and Eau Sauvage flasks, all of these iconic creations imagined by master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. Later on in the exhibit, a collection of rare flasks – very limited prestige editions – are put on display. These antique collector’s pieces and more can all be discovered in the Grasse region from May 15th to October 1st 2017.
Leave a Reply