Miss Dior Original: A green chypre that brought a wind of freshness to the postwar period... The lovely Miss Dior, or rather the lovely Miss Dior fragrance, was born from the expert hands of Paul Vacher at the same time as the very first collection from her father, the great couturier Christian Dior, was released.
Perfumery is an art in its own right that has the gift of transporting us, with a simple breath, to a faraway place or another era altogether. Indeed, some fragrances are born and fade quickly, while others endure through the decades. Such is the case with Miss Dior Original, created in 1947. Perfectly rooted in the New Look style of its era, it evokes a rich creative history and the beginnings of the Dior house. Upon its release, Christian Dior envisioned a fragrance to clothe every woman in a sillage of desire, and to see all of his dresses emerge from its bottle. So, is desire indeed present? Here is our take on this legendary fragrance.
Olfastory’s review
Miss Dior Original, more than a fragrance, a piece of history
If Miss Dior Original is so famous today, it is because it alone evokes an entire part of the history of the house of Dior. It was February 12, 1947, as a bitter cold swept over Paris. In a private mansion on Avenue Montaigne, a couturier was born: Christian Dior. It was on this very date that he presented his first collection, named New Look. No one knew it yet, but it would very soon upend the established order of fashion through its creative boldness. With this collection, Christian Dior brought to life a dream of elegance and beauty, imposing a new silhouette on women, while also giving birth to his first fragrance: Miss Dior. The fruit of relentless work, Miss Dior Original is the result of a project carried out in collaboration with Coty, one of the greatest perfume houses of the era. For four years, we worked, searched, like alchemists in pursuit of the philosopher's stone... And then, Miss Dior was born. She was born on one of those Provençal evenings crossed by fireflies, where green jasmine serves as counterpoint to the melody of the night and the earth..., explains Christian Dior.
The bold spirit of Miss Dior Original
Miss Dior Original is an atypical fragrance, between freshness and warmth, femininity and sensuality. It displays a truly singular duality and a striking contrast. It thus opens on green and airy notes, counterbalanced by a much warmer, chypre base. Its floral accord is enlivened by the impertinence of sage and bergamot. The whole concludes with the captivating delights of amber, vetiver and patchouli, leaving on women's skin a soft, velvety sensation.
A prestigious bottle transformed by Dior
Initially, upon its release, Miss Dior Original was presented in a crystal amphora signed Baccarat. It had a body shaped like a figure eight, an undisputed symbol of the New Look style. Then, a few years later, Christian Dior decided to have it evolve, giving it a more vertical, oblique look, “cut like a tailored suit”. It was also at this moment that Dior's emblematic houndstooth pattern appeared. In every respect, including visually, Miss Dior Original is an evocation of Dior's evolution through the ages.