Miss Dior

Perfume Chat Room, May 8
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Perfume Chat Room, May 8

Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Friday, May 8, and it is both VE Day and David Attenborough’s 100th birthday!

I’m about to enter a serious Dior phase, because our local fashion museum has just opened an amazing exhibit of Dior’s fashions. This is the same place that hosted a wonderful exhibit devoted to Madame Grés. I may have to wear Miss Dior all weekend, in honor of Christian Dior’s very brave sister Catherine, who was a Resistance agent during the Nazi occupation of France. If you haven’t seen the TV mini-series “The New Look”, about the siblings’ experiences during WW2, I highly recommend it.

One of my favorite fragrances, that contributed to my falling down the fragrance rabbit hole, is Diorissimo. As longtime readers here know, I love lily of the valley flowers and fragrances, and I have many of the latter! In past years, I’ve written about some of them in a “May Muguet Marathon”. My latest favorite of that genre is Parfums Dusita’s Cavatina. Have you discovered any new ones recently?

Happy May Day!
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Happy May Day!

Today is the first of May, traditionally celebrated in France by giving bouquets or sprigs of muguet, or lily-of-the-valley. As regular readers know, I love lilies of the valley and I love muguet fragrances. In some past years, I’ve done a “May Muguet Marathon“, posting every day about a muguet fragrance or the flower itself. I won’t do one this year, because of our son’s college graduation and then our family’s two-week trip to France itself. Got a lot going on!

I did want to share this lovely photo of Maison Dior’s flagship in Paris, decorated with huge sculptures of lilies of the valley:

Huge sculptures of lily of the valley decorating Dior's flagship boutique in Paris.
Muguet at Maison Dior; image from Maison Dior.

Isn’t that magnifique? Christian Dior is much on my mind these days, after having watched the Apple TV series “The New Look.” I loved it — so well done, and the acting was terrific, including Juliette Binoche as the very unappealing Coco Chanel. The series is about what happened to Christian Dior and his sister Catherine during the Nazi occupation of Paris, with the parallel story of Chanel’s alleged collaboration. Only Binoche could have pulled off the balanced acting required for that role. Both narratives are based on separate books by Justine Picardie: a biography of Chanel that includes the war years, and one of Catherine Dior, focused on her experience as a member of the French Resistance and also as an inspiration to her brother. The perfume Miss Dior was named for her.

I’ve read the book about Catherine Dior, Miss Dior; A Story of Courage and Couture, and I highly recommend it. Have you read it, or watched the series?

Scent Sample Sunday: Miss Dior
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Scent Sample Sunday: Miss Dior

I always love a good chypre, and I love seriously green fragrances, and those two traits often travel together. So I admit, it’s a little odd that I hadn’t yet tried vintage Miss Dior, given that its vintage formula includes many of my favorite notes and it is most certain a green floral chypre. Well, I was able to get my hands on one of the houndstooth bottles of Miss Dior eau de toilette, and this is love.

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