A passion for gardens and flowers was at the very heart of Christian Dior's work and a perpetual source of his creative inspiration. To the designer, the scent of a perfume offered "a door opening into a hidden world". His first perfume, Miss Dior, inspired by the lush gardens of his childhood home in Normandy, forged an inextricable link between his creations in fashion and fragrance. Other perfumes were inspired by evenings at his home in southern France, lit by fireflies and scented with jasmine. Throughout his life, Christian Dior transformed his gardens into verdant refuges and places of creative rejuvenation, where his spirit remains present today. Gardens and flowers also infused Dior's work in fashion, from the "flower-women" that inspired the New Look of the late 1940s and 1950s to the swishing, blossom-like ball gowns embroidered with lavish floral motifs he designed throughout his career. Dior's reinvention of floral inspirations, which were infused into his resolutely forward-looking creations, shaped each of the designers who followed him at the House of Dior, from Yves Saint Laurent to Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri. This elegant volume brings together a series of original essays by fashion historians, writers, and a landscape architect that examine the designer's lifelong dialogue with nature. In addition, interviews with creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri, François Demachy, Victoire de Castellane, Kim Jones, and Peter Philips assess how Christian Dior's love of flowers has fashioned their own artistic vision. A portfolio of rose portraits by Nick Knight, along with unpublished archival documents featuring Christian Dior and his gardens, exquisite details of embroidery and fabrics, perfumes, fashion sketches, and photographs, tell a fresh and captivating story of the House of Dior. NICK KNIGHT is an influential and visionary photographer known for his numerous contributions to Vogue magazine and his advertising campaigns for fashion houses. He creates some of the most beautiful images of flowers in contemporary art. JUSTINE PICARDIE is an acclaimed novelist, fashion writer, and biographer. She is the former editor in chief of Harper's Bazaar and Town & Country. NAOMI SACHS, a therapeutic landscape designer, has published and lectured internationally on the positive role of nature in human health and well-being. JERÔME HANOVER is a fashion and luxury journalist. He is a frequent contributor to Vogue Paris and Le Figaro. ALAIN STELLA has written numerous books, including Jacques Garcia : Twenty Years of Passion, Château du Champ de Bataille, Historic Houses of Paris, and French Wine Châteaux : Distinctive Vintages and Their Estates, all published by Flammarion.

Dior in Bloom

Dès 1947, le succès de Christian Dior gagne le monde du 
cinéma et les plus grandes stars d'Hollywood s'habillent chez 
le couturien. A la ville, Ingrid Bergman, Marilyn Monroe, 
Grace Kelly. Sophia Loren. entre autres, s'affichent en robes et 
tailleurs Dior. Icônes de la mode, elles imposent leur glamour 
au fil des pages des magazines, mais aussi dans les films des 
plus grands réalisateurs de l'époque : Charlie Chaplin, Vittorio 
de Sica, Henri Verneuil, Marcel Carné... En coulisses. 
Christian Dior entretient avec les vedettes de grandes amitiés, 
comme celle qui le lie à Marlène Dietrich, une 
inconditionnelle des parfums Miss Dior et Diorama. "La 
divine" ira jusqu'à imposer à :Alfred Hitchcock la condition 
d'être habillée par Dior dans un de ses films: "No Dior, no 
Dietrich !" La passion des stars pour la maison est la née. 
Lauren Bacall, Eva Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Seberg, 
Monica Bellucci, Penélope Cruz, toutes défilent en Dior sur 
les tapis rouges des événements les plus médiatisés au monde. 
La fascination du couturier pour les stars se prolonge dans les 
publicités de la maison, indissociable du glamour des grands 
noms du cinéma. Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman ou Marion 
Cotillard ont toutes prêté leur visage et leur talent d'actrice à la 
marque, sous la direction de réalisateurs aussi prestigieux que 
Jean-Jacques Annaud, Sofia Coppola ou David Lynch.

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