couture Archives - The Perfume Society

‘Perfume is the indispensible complement to the personality of women, the finishing touch on a dress.’ – Christian Dior

Showcasing couture gowns worn by Princess Margaret, Margot Fonteyn and Jennifer Lawrence, in Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, the V&A has opened the world’s largest exhibition ever staged in the UK on the House of Dior. We went to gawp at the gowns, and of course, to swoon at the scent bottles…

How telling that – amidst room after room of sumptuous designs and rainbow walls of vivid colours, unless one peered at the labels – it was practically impossible to accurately date the array of garments and accessories. And how welcome that so many iconic fragrances are displayed as part of the overall design aesthetic of Dior.

‘The exhibition highlights Christian Dior’s total design vision,’ explain the V&A, ‘encompassing garments, accessories and fragrances. Flowers are emblematic of the Couture house and have inspired silhouettes, embroidery and prints, but also the launch of Miss Dior in 1947, the first fragrance created alongside the very first show.’

Fragrance and fashion have always gone hand in (scented) glove, but never more so than with Dior. No designer has simultaneously launched a new brand new fashion line and a fragrance. It was an audacious act that marked their groundbreaking, breathtaking course to this very day.

Lined-up in cabinets, perched on plinths or variously housed within a stand resembling a miniature palace; the Dior fragrances are shown as being vital to the overall development of the house, and their continuing success shows how warmly we have clasped the scents to our (in our dreams) Dior-clad chests.

Arranged into eleven sections, the exhibition traces the skill and craftsmanship of the ateliers, along with highlighting many of the designers who have worked under the Dior banner, always pushing the boundaries while keeping an elegant insouciance that remained true to Dior’s ethos.

Noses pressed against the glass, oh how we would have loved to smell some of the originals – an impossible task at such a large exhibition, of course, but merely gazing at the original sketches for the bottles, a saved invitation from that orginal fashion and fragrance launch, and the most lust-worthy flaçons you’ll see all year – it’s enough to transport most of your senses. We advise wearing your favourite Dior fragrance and inhaling deeply as you get giddy with the glamour of it all…

Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams runs from now until 14th July 2019, with tickets from £20. All concessions £15.

We highly advise booking your tickets now, as a day after opening they were sold-out until April. Even so, believe us, it’s worth the wait.

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Count Hubert James Marcel Taffin de Givenchy – little wonder he simply became known as ‘Givenchy.’ The esteemed couturier died on Saturday at the age of 91, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that, ‘France has lost a master. A master of elegance, creation and invention, a master of his culture and ambassador of this spirit of liberty and audacity.’

Famed for dressing the most glamorous stars, from Audrey Hepburn and Princess Grace of Monaco to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, they were counted not only as clients, but friends and admirers of his exquisite work.

Indeed Givenchy was much admired, and it’s been noted that ‘it didn’t hurt’ he was blessed with strapping height (6ft 6) and elegant good looks along with his natural talent and quiet charm. Creator of the famous ‘little black dress’ his muse Hepburn would wear in Breakfast at Tiffany’s – his name became legendary in his own lifetime and (just like his fashions, perfumes and makeup) will echo through the ages.

As early as 1957, Givenchy was already creating fragrances – declaring them a woman’s ‘finishing touch’, when getting dressed. In 1958 – at a time when perfumes didn’t have ‘faces’ – he created a revolution by asking his friend Audrey Hepburn to be the star of the advertising campaign for L’Interdit: the very first time that a movie star had appeared in a perfume advertisement.

Our co-founder, Jo Fairley, had the pleasure of meeting the man himself, interviewing him at the launch of the first Givenchy makeup line in ’91, and recalls with a smile that ‘Hubert de Givenchy is probably the most charming and graceful man I’ve ever met.’

Today, within Givenchy‘s perfumed portfolio, you’ll find something for every fragrance-lover. The classic Véry Irrésistible, for instance – created by celebrated ‘noses’ Dominique Ropion, Carlos Benaïm and Sophie Labbé – was launched in 2003, showcased in what has become an iconic sculpted bottle. Then the feminine scent had its floral notes melded with vanilla in the Véry Irrésistible Eau de Parfum – and the rose elements played up in Véry Irrésistible L’Eau en Rose.

For further reading and to learn more about Hubert de Givenchy’s incredible life, turn to our page dedicated to Givenchy and in the meantime, we urge you to seek out one of the many fabulous fragrances and take a moment to appreciate his legacy…

Hubert de Givenchy, 1927 – 2018. R.I.P.

Written by Suzy Nightingale