The New Miss

Nothing unites us quite like love. The power of love between friends, family, humans with animals or even our love of the planet surrounding us is irreplaceable. This love, connection, and togetherness can be one of the most inspirational emotions we have. Even in the toughest of times these bonds reign supreme. Who would have thought that one brother and sister relationship during the horror of war and the post-war period spawned one of the great couture fragrances ever made? Find out more here in The New Miss

Left-hand image Abi Perkins

It’s hard to imagine those times of hardship when in this day and age, with a press of a phone, you can get anything you could possibly want, your hearts desire a click away. But it wasn’t that long ago when shortages of many things reigned supreme. During and after the World Wars much was in scarcity. After World War II, there was an absolute wonder when bananas arrived back in the UK. A whole group of war children never having seen such a fruit. Fabrics were also in short supply and were considered a luxury because it was still rationed after the war.

But it took one brave man to change that, to reignite the love of fashion and glamour after years of austerity, and alongside this revival, he created a scent that reflected this glamour but most of all an ode to love.

Once the war was over in 1945, it was generally believed the boys were home, the restrictions would be lifted, and the economy would revive. Except that didn’t happen, and many countries would costly see rationing continue for several years until, for example, 1947 in the UK.

Life began again but in 1947 France was still suffering terribly from wartime shortages. There was little coal, and electricity was still rationed. Daily circumstances for the average Parisian were not much better than they were during the war. The couture salons had been forced to temporarily shut their doors during WWII. But by 1947 thankfully everything began to change.

Along came a young designer by the name of Christain Dior.

Dior Family Image with thanks to Collection Christian Dior Parfums, Paris

Born in Normandy, France, the Dior family moved to Paris when Christian was ten years old. He studied political science and served in the military. His fashion career did not actually begin until 1935 when he returned to Paris and began selling sketches. The designer Robert Piguet hired him in 1938.

Piguet was famously well known for also training both Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy. During World War II, Dior again served in the military only to return again to Paris in 1941 where he went to work for Lucien Lelong, in a much bigger house than his previous place. This began a massive shift as by 1946 he was backed by textile manufacturer Marcel Boussac, and he went on to open his own house. 

Christian Dior’s reputation as one of the most important couturiers of the 20th century happened almost immediately as he launched his very first collection in 1947. On the 12th of February, he introduced the revolutionary “New Look.”

His first collection was actually called the Huit, and Carolle Line. Yet its ‘name’ came about supposedly when one fashion writer, Carmel Snow of Harpers Bazaar in the USA, exclaimed “it’s such a new look!” and what followed was immense fame and international recognition. So what was this New Look?

Luxury was key here, not tasteless and flamboyant but a tailored elegance with an abundance of fabric, something that had been scarce for so long.

Set off with rounded shoulders, a cinched tiny waist, and a very full skirt, the “New Look” celebrated opulence in a way not seen for years. After years of military clothing (many women worked in the military during the war) and civilian uniforms, there were few occasions for dressing up, of course, because of the shortage as well.

Dior blew the cobwebs off of glamour and in one-go reinstated feminity, power, and sexuality, simultaneously returning Couture fashion back to its home in Paris.

The New Look was truly a modern take on the hourglass figure; it emphasized an extended natural shape of the female form and the lines, not accompanied by ruffles and feathers to be frivolous and girly, but strongly feminine, sharp, clean, and ridiculously elegant.

These New Miss fashions were adorned with hats, gloves, shoes, and purses; all the accessories to match. Dior understood that women needed more than to look good, they wanted to smell good too. The scent personified the New Look, especially for the growing American market that fuelled Dior’s career.

What came next was just as important as the clothes themselves; a perfume, a scent to sum up the new fashion. Going forward, this fragrance also looked back and became in many ways a signifier of the united relationship between him and his sibling Catherine.

Catherine; Image with thanks to Collection Christian Dior Parfums, Paris

Christian and his beloved sister Catherine had grown up together in an affluent home with a sunny garden full of flowers, Villa Les Rhumbs in Granville, Normandy North West France. They often talked of long hours playing in the sunny floral garden that their mother loved to tend.

Although deeply connected in their youth, their lives went in very separate ways during the war. She became a brave Freedom Fighter with the French resistance. Caught eventually by the Gestapo she was sent to work in atrocious conditions at the Ravensbruck camp, and then onto another camp in Prussia. For several years, Christian had no idea if she was even alive and desperately searched for her to no avail.

But in May 1945 he received a phone call that his beloved sister was on a refugee train, arriving the following morning at the Gare de l’Est, Paris. Once reunited she lived with Christan and slowly but surely regained her health and well-being.

In the same year as the ‘ New Look’ in 1947, Christian commissioned his first perfume. He instructs the perfumers Jean Charles and Paul Vacher to “create a fragrance that is like love” and names it after Catherine, his sister.

The story goes that she walked into the salon as he was trying to name this untitled scent and as it was announced by a staff member that Miss Dior was here, and Christian said that’s it, that’s the name. Miss Dior.

Fragrance was always important to Christain Dior. Apparently deeply superstitious, he would sew a sprig of lily of the valley into the hem of every haute couture dress, and had his own hot house to grow this flower.

This new scent was sprinkled through the house on the day of the first couture show so that journalists and customers would literally walk through the scent and when leaving would leave aromatized by the fragrance.

‘A woman’s perfume tells me more about her than her handwriting.’

Christian Dior 

It was not just a fragrance named after his beloved sister but a scent born of their Normandy garden, full of flowers, and evening there as the sun went down to reveal the scent of florals and earthy grasses. It was a love letter to her, their home, and all the women he adored.

Image Abi Perkins

The perfume has a green floral Chypre, meaning it has classic structured notes. Chypres are an accord composed of Citrus top notes, a middle centered on cistus labdanum, and a mossy-animalic set of base notes. Yet this scent has green notes as well as florals, which gives it elegance and softness without being sweet or too hard.

It opens at the top with delicious, powdery soft Aldehydes, and next comes Galbanum for an intense green facet with woody and balsamic elements. Often described as earthy or forest-like and alongside this earthy, herbaceous, floral, and slightly fruity Clary Sage is found, with soft floral creaminess and a hint of floral-citrus via Gardenia. Finally, the fragrance becomes brightly alive with citrusy Bergamot; opening a powerhouse of cloud-like elegance.

Centered in the perfume is a floral bouquet of addictive powdery yet earthy, majestic Iris, with majestic Jasmine Sambac, the eternal elegance of Rose alongside Narcissus. There is Carnation, Orris Root, Lily-of-the-Valley, and sparkling Neroli, keeping the flowers modern, sharply sweet, and deeply alluring.

All of this is held in place with deep darker notes of mossy Oakmoss, Leather, dry grassy Vetiver, ‘dirty’ Patchouli, and the ambery, animalic, dry musk of the fixative Labdanum, alongside soft woody Sandalwood and Amber.

Bringing the perfume almost into the earthy ground are the green plants, a damp soft night that hangs with the last of the scented flowers. This original scent is still available as an Extrait as well as an EDT.

The L’Extrait de Parfum Original has an extreme refinement of the Galbanum notes, bringing ultimate freshness to its floral heart of Jasmine and Grasse Rose absolute, while Patchouli essence gives the fragrance depth.

The original 1947 Miss Dior perfume bottle was a transparent glass amphora decorated with rings designed by Fernand Guerycolas. In 1949 as the New Look made headlines globally, Christian Dior saw the perfume bottle as an indispensable luxury object associated with haute couture. Therefore he decided to offer his special clients an amphora in red, white, or blue with the making of the amphora left to the luxury House of Baccarat.

Image with thanks to Collection Christian Dior Parfums, Paris

But the versions didn’t stop there, as with the very fact of the collection being so modern, the perfume needed to keep moving forward.

Whilst preparing his Verticle collection, in 1949, he imagined the bottle, “cut like a suit.” Architectural, geometric, and a simple clean-lined bottle, reflecting the modernist vibe of the era.

By 1950, the iconic houndstooth check arrived etched onto the graphic bottle. Tied at the neck of the bottle is a decorative, feminine, and timeless bow, the divine connection of scent and couture. This little bow, which was sometimes white and sometimes black, became the symbol of Miss Dior.

The world of Miss Dior kept evolving as any item that signifies modernity should, and so in 2005 perfumer Christine Nagel became the nose behind Miss Dior Cherie, a Chypre Fruity fragrance for the new young vibrant Miss Dior women.

This ’05 fragrance was fresh yet fruity with top notes of Cherry, Strawberry, Pineapple, and Mandarin Orange; middle notes of Popcorn, Caramel, Rose, Jasmine, and Violet. The base notes are Patchouli, crystalline Musk, and Amber.

There have been several incarnations of this with EDT EDP and Parfum alongside facets including Blooming Bouquet, Absolute Blooming, Rose and Rose, and L’eau versions.

Now the last incarnation is from 2021, a re-released Miss Dior Eau de Parfum with a new scent and a new bottle. The signature rose scent remains but this with Amber Floral, including Lily-of-the-Valley, Iris, and Peony for a lighter, spicier version.

“All our senses are awakened by the sensuality of the new Miss Dior Eau de Parfum’s floral bouquet. It celebrates the velvety and sensual Roses—heightened by a fresh Lily-of-the-Valley and biting Peony—enveloped by a powdery Iris.”

François Demachy, Parfumeur-Créateur Dior

Now there are facets to this historical yet modern scent, one that originated in the love and connectedness of brother and sister; its first version is now called Miss Dior The Original.

So what came next for the adoring sister and brother? Miss Catherine Dior stayed forever united with her brother but carved out a more peaceful life selling fresh flowers.

She continued her floral love by trading with her partner and traveling to France for her flowers. She eventually settled in Provencal to cultivate entire fields of centifolia Roses.

Christian Dior also acquired a regional home with vast acres for planting named the Château de la Colle Noire. Roses, Jasmine, fruit trees, vines, and olive trees were sadly his final offering to the world as he suddenly passed away from an unexpected heart attack in October 1957, leaving his sister inconsolable at the loss of her much-loved brother.

Catherine Dior passed away in 2008 at the age of 91 in her flowered property in Callian. Knight of the Legion of Honor, holder of the Cross, and a Resistance medalist, Catherine was a woman of courage and one that helped drive the very spirit of the house of Dior.

Ultimately Dior was the man to bring Modernism to the world, to bring the return not just of glamour to women but brought back to its rightful home of Paris a bottle of scent that echoed every curve, line, seam, and padding within The New Look. The scent was as much the New Look ‘personified in fragrance’ as the clothes themselves, all captured inside the perfect bottle.

The legacy of one scent sewn into the hem of every piece of clothing that passed through the House of Dior and still is its birthright for such a luminary, ever evolving; without ever forgetting its familial roots.

To find out about all the flacons of Miss Dior please visit here at Dior.com

If you enjoyed reading then why not read The New Miss why not read Uncovering Surrealism Here.