Dior’s Perfume Creation Director Francis Kurkdjian has reinvented 13 iconic Dior fragrances for a new collection.
Dioriginals spans nearly 80 years of the French luxury fashion house’s history, and is aimed at safeguarding endangered fragrance masterpieces against a backdrop of changing standards and ingredient availability in perfumery.
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“A perfume should be cherished and looked after like a fragile work of art that is subject to the vagaries of time,” said Kurkdjian, who joined Dior in 2021.
“In the same way that luster and colour are restored to a painting, so must the quality, shine and nuance of raw materials be upheld in a fragrance.
“This involves maintaining the utmost vigilance in sourcing and ensuring that legislation limiting or prohibiting certain ingredients does not alter the balance of a composition.
“To recreate the ‘landscape’ of a great Dior fragrance in all its former brilliance, I was keen to use new technologies that made it possible to recover their original formulas and restore the perfect harmony of their compositions.”
In addition to regulations, ingredients in fragrances can also vary according to availability from harvests and terroir – the environmental and human factors of a specific region, such as soil, climate, altitude and sunlight, which can influence the quality of materials.
Among the restored scents are Diorama, Eau Fraîche, Diorissimo, Diorling and Diorella.
Launching on 1 October, the Dioriginals collection will also include Dioressence, Jules, Dolce Vita, Dune, Dune Homme, Higher, Forever and Ever, as well as Higher Energy.
Restoring ‘emblematic’ fragrances to their ‘original brilliance’
Working with the Dior Perfume Creative Studio, Kurkdjian has restored the composition of each of the fragrances to their “original brilliance”, Dior said in a company statement.
“Grouped under the code name Dioriginals, I envisioned restoring these emblematic fragrances according to two time periods,” said Kurkdjian.
“The first one, ‘Dior in Grasse’, honours the masterpieces of Edmond Roudnitska, as well as Diorling [1963], a creation by Paul Vacher, the ‘father’ of Miss Dior.
“It highlights the magnificent floral chypres that shaped the olfactory identity of an entire era.”
A Master Perfumer, Roudnitska created Diorama, a spicy floral chypre, in 1949 and Eau Fraîche, a chypre cologne, in 1955.
For Diorama, Kurkdjian focused on the quality of the jasmine which he wanted to heighten, while “restoring the original shine and scent of this masterful composition", he said.
Meanwhile, Eau Fraîche ushered in a new olfactory style and pioneered the Eaux Fraiches olfactory family from the 1960s onwards, according to Kurkdjian.
“To return this chypre cologne to all its original beauty, I made sure to elevate all the qualities of the citrus fruits (bergamot, lemon, mandarin, orange) and re-blended its signature aromatic basil-tarragon note, which was under threat owing to regulations,” said Kurkdjian.
“Lastly, I erased certain additions that had appeared over time and were not in the original formula.”
Kurkdjian has also brought back Roudnitska’s 1956 creation Diorissimo, a lily of the valley single note floral scent, which Kurkdjian described as “an immense classic still taught in perfumery schools worldwide today”.
He continued: “It is a marvel of balance, grace and simplicity.
“Part figuration and part abstraction, this legendary scent offers a portrait of elevated nature.
“To recreate the legendary floral aspect of Diorissimo, I restored the entire ‘white lily of the valley’ floral accord of the composition.
“We worked with a new quality of jasmine that allowed us to restore its ‘colour’ and recreate its original aura.”
Recreating the ‘Dior in Paris’ period
The second period, which Kurkdjian has named "Dior in Paris", embraces more recent scents from the period 1979 to 2003.
This includes Perfumer Max Gavarry’s Dioressence, a spicy floral chypre, with Kurkdjian “restoring its spirit, character and depth of the oriental scent”.
He said: “It reveals a subtle balance between heritage and innovation, perfectly in line with current demands.”
Perfumer Jean Martel’s 1980 creation Jules, an aromatic amber fougére, along with Dune, a citrus floral amber created by Jean-Louis Sieuzac and Dominique Ropion in 1991, plus Dolce Vita, a woody fruity floral created by Pierre Bordan in 1995, are also in the collection.
Commenting on the former, Kurkdjian said: “The scent of an era, of straight-up virility, Jules remains etched in the memory of a whole generation.
“The richly faceted, fresh and woody scent of a tough guy with a tender heart.
“Over time, Jules had undergone minute adaptations owing to developments in the regulations.
“The new version benefits from readjustments made to its spice notes, mosses and tonka bean facet in a return to its original spirit.
“The work on lavender was also essential, and the combination of an absolute and an essence ensures its presence is truly felt."
Each of the Dioriginal scents will be housed in an Ovale bottle – a transparent glass, featuring a hemisphere-shaped stopper and a white cord tied at its neck, first created in 1948 by Serge Heftler-Louiche, co-founder and first Director of Parfums Christian Dior.
Revived for the return of Dior’s classic fragrances, the signature bottle is adorned with a minimalist, textured label that is said to reimagine the original oval design, as well as a finely grooved metal ring engraved with the CD monogram.
