A passion for gardens and flowers was at the heart of Christian Dior's work and an eternal source of his creative inspiration. For the designer, the scent of a perfume offered "a door to 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 perfumed with jasmine. Throughout his life, Christian Dior transformed his gardens into green havens and places of creative rejuvenation.
Gardens and flowers also informed Dior's work in fashion, from the 'flower women' that inspired the New Look of the late 1940s and 1950s to the dashing, floral ball gowns embroidered with lush floral motifs he designed during 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 in the house of Dior, from Yves Saint Laurent to Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri.
This elegant book brings together a series of original essays by fashion historians, writers and a landscape architect exploring 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 shaped their own artistic vision. A portfolio of rose portraits by Nick Knight, along with unpublished archival documents on Christian Dior and his gardens, exquisite details of embroidery and fabrics, perfumes, fashion sketches and photographs, tell a fresh and engaging story of the House of Dior.
The book is written in English, measures 27.8 x 36 cm and has 302 pages.
