Miss Dior Vernissage

“”Miss Dior was born from those evenings in Provence crossed by fireflies where green jasmine serves as a counter song to the melody of the night and the earth””. These words used by Christian Dior to define the mythical perfume of the House surround its history with mystery. Created by the couturier at the same time as the new look to “see all the dresses in the bottle appear one by one and dress women in a trail of desire”, the fragrance is now celebrated in the prestigious setting of the Grand Palais, with an exhibition soberly named “Miss Dior”.

Thanks to her, Christian Dior – who was a gallery owner before becoming a couturier – finds his accomplices, from Christian Bérard to Jean Cocteau, while the spirit of the house continues around fifteen works signed by fifteen women artists. Installations, sculptures, videos, and photographs sublimate an imaginary garden, the rose garden dear to the couturier. When Polly Apfelbaum reinterprets the houndstooth pattern with a huge rainbow weave, Joana Vasconcelos gives her vision of the famous knot with a 3 meter work decorated with 2000 bottles. Lara Baladi, for her part, creates a dreamlike and cheerful multimedia piece entitled “Don’t Touch Me Tomatoes & Chachacha”.

In the gallery, the works proudly throne following the curves of the west wing of the Palace. Here and there, Raf Simons’ embroidered dresses echo Christian Dior’s iconic designs, as if to weave the link between eras through codes that move without ever disappearing. But to see the ultimate piece, the most fabulous and delicate gem of the Dior house, without which Miss Dior’s story would be duller, you had to be at the opening, at Bernard Arnault’s invitation, because the muse of the knotted scent, Natalie Portman, was present. Among other treasures and friends of the industrialist, everything there was impeccably chic, beautiful, and good. We expected nothing less from the proudest standard-bearer of French luxury. But still.

“Miss Dior”, at the Grand Palais until November 25th.