Fève Délicieuse

By creating the La Collection Privée fragrance collection, François Demachy celebrates the memory of the beloved founder through bottles that pay tribute to the great man's passions and tastes. Fève Délicieuse, released in 2015, celebrates in its own way the late creator's extreme sweet tooth by daring to offer a Dior gourmand that is savored with every breath.

Christian Dior's sweet indulgences take shape in fragrance with Fève Délicieuse

Christian Dior was an esthete who took as much pleasure in contemplating the magnificent landscapes of La Colle Noire as in sharing sumptuous meals with friends who came for the weekend, particularly lavish pastries. François Demachy, true to the house's values, offered to Christian Dior's memory a fragrance to savor between delicious bitterness and succulent chocolatey warmth: Fève Délicieuse.

Fève Délicieuse would thus be a gourmand fragrance, but also and above all a gourmet fragrance that goes far beyond the traditional sweet juices of its era by revealing a tonka bean that is elevated through contact with the other ingredients. A luxury tonka bean that the perfumer would seek out as far as Venezuela to work into Fève Délicieuse.

A tonka bean, yes, but not just any: when François Demachy, Dior's Perfumer-Creator, embarked on a reinterpretation of this emblematic ingredient, he began by selecting a very particular variety with notes of caramel, praline and hay, sourced directly from Venezuela. Vogue on Fève Délicieuse, Dior.

Dior Fève Délicieuse, or discovering every facet of Venezuelan tonka bean

Fève Délicieuse is a fragrant tribute to the culinary choices Christian Dior made throughout his life. It is, of course, an ode to tonka bean, which for the occasion dons a very sweet yet also very golden guise that pairs beautifully with the aromatic notes, sun-kissed flowers and rich sweet indulgences found in the depths of Fève Délicieuse. Tonka bean has many facets, and François Demachy skillfully revealed them throughout the olfactory journey of this Fève Délicieuse.

This Fève Délicieuse first greets us with quite surprising notes of fresh aromatic herbs such as lavender and mint. Then, at the heart, the sunlit and delicate flowers of jasmine and freesia blossom into velvety, fruity notes of morello cherry. This hint of candied sweetness leads us to discover the intensely gourmand depths of Fève Délicieuse, which unfold around a Madagascar vanilla in olfactory sweetness of caramel, milk and cocoa. The woody power of sandalwood, cedar and, of course, tonka bean combines with a leather note to contrast the delicious sweetness with brilliant sensual darkness.

I wanted to compose a fragrance that would be a personalized representation of the tonka bean and celebrate its duality between sweetness and surprising bitterness. François Demachy on Fève Délicieuse by Dior.