Dior in Bloom

A passion for gardens and flowers was at the very heart of Christian Dior's work and a perpetual source of his creative inspiration. To the designer, the scent of a perfume offered "a door opening into 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 scented with jasmine. Throughout his life, Christian Dior transformed his gardens into verdant refuges and places of creative rejuvenation, where his spirit remains present today. Gardens and flowers also infused Dior's work in fashion, from the "flower-women" that inspired the New Look of the late 1940s and 1950s to the swishing, blossom-like ball gowns embroidered with lavish floral motifs he designed throughout 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 at the House of Dior, from Yves Saint Laurent to Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri. This elegant volume brings together a series of original essays by fashion historians, writers, and a landscape architect that examine 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 fashioned their own artistic vision. A portfolio of rose portraits by Nick Knight, along with unpublished archival documents featuring Christian Dior and his gardens, exquisite details of embroidery and fabrics, perfumes, fashion sketches, and photographs, tell a fresh and captivating story of the House of Dior.