Chosen Brand: Dior

   Founded in 1946 by the designer Christian Dior, today the company designs and retails ready-to-wear, leather goods, fashion accessories, footwear, jewellery, timepieces, fragrance, make-up, and skincare products while also maintaining its tradition as a creator of recognised haute-couture.

   On 12 February 1947, Dior launched his first fashion collection for Spring–Summer 1947. The show of "90 models of his first collection on six mannequins" was presented in the salons of the company's headquarters. The two lines were named "Corolle" and “Huit", however, the new collection went down in fashion history as the "New Look" after the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar Carmel Snow exclaimed; "It's such a New Look!" The silhouette was characterised by a small, nipped-in waist and a full skirt falling below mid-calf length, which emphasised the bust and hips, as epitomised by the 'Bar' suit from the first collection. At a time of post-war fabric restrictions, Dior used up to twenty yards of extravagant fabrics for his creations. The New Look became extremely popular, its full-skirted silhouette influencing other fashion designers all the way into the 1950s, and Dior gained a number of important clients from Hollywood, and the European aristocracy. As a result, Paris, which had fallen from its position as the capital of the fashion world after WWII, regained its excellence. The New Look was introduced in western Europe as a refreshing cure to the austerity of wartime and de-feminizing uniforms, and was embraced by stylish women such as Princess Margaret in the UK.

   The designer’s instructions to the perfumers creating Miss Dior was simple; “Create a fragrance that is like love.” But, the perfume went unnamed until the elegant Mitzah Bricard saw Dior’s sister Catherine enter the Dior Couture boutique and said; “Look, there is Miss Dior”.

Dior then went to say; “Miss Dior! That is my perfume!” And that’s how the perfume millions of women still use today was named. More than one litre of pure fragrance was sprinkled every week in Dior’s first boutique when it opened in February 1947. 

“What I remember the most about the women who were part of my childhood was their perfume – perfume lasts much more than the moment.” said Christian Dior in his 1951 biography Je Suis Couturier. Dior then went on to explain that “perfume is an indispensable accessory, a final touch in my dresses.”