Mitzah (Christian Dior) - new exclusive fragrance review

With Mitzah, Dior gives carte blanche to the purest form of sensuality. This is "nude" lingerie wrapped in the most precious fur, a naked tigresse in a Dior salon. There are no other better fur coats in Paris than those found in the avenue Montaigne boutique and their tactile presence is fundamental to the Dior spirit. Mitzah, the new exclusive fragrance from Dior, is the quintessence of amber. It's sweet, warm, animalic and devastating like the odor of the panther muse that (still) haunts the avenue Montaigne house. It's barbarian, but extremely civilized, preciously heavy but airy like a silk lingerie. It's feline and Fellinian. The extravagant Mitzah Bricard used to wear at her wrist a muslin scarf with panther prints, called "jungle", and the fragrance captures this mysterious elegance: rich like a heavy fur, soft like a precious silk. Deep oriental, but not overpowering.

"Mitzah Bricard was Dior's lifeline, a direct connection with his ideal image of womanhood — the women of his childhood, those who had left him with the memories of their perfumes, perfumes that lingered in the elevator, more clinging that those of today. Figures muffled in furs, gestures à la Boldini, bird of paradise plumes and amber necklaces". Marie France Pochna in Christian Dior: the biography.

François Demachy gives us the modern interpretation of amber and consider by now Ambre Sultan (Serge Lutens) already a classic. There are hundreds of ambery interpretations since the natural ingredient was first used, but the Dior head perfumer selected the "ambre 83" archetype, where the labdanum was wrapped in very sweet notes and underlined by several important woody ingredients. Amber became the synonym with Oriental through an essential 15 ingredients formula. If this idea was first tried at Dior in Cologne Ambre Nuit, Mitzah brings the new molecules into the very classic notion of amber. Demachy doesn't reproduce the classic note, he updates its style. The perfume, with its balsamic benzoin notes and delicate incense but also a sparkling coriander, is the essence of amber, as this note was explored by modern perfumers in the past 10 years, from Lutens to the recent creations of Francis Kurkdjian, Estée Lauder (Amber Ylang-Ylang) and Annick Goutal (Ambre Fétiche). All contrasts, aromatic accents or floral arpeggios were reduced under the ultimate supremacy of amber and the composition became an exercise in oriental smoothness. If Eau de Merveilles (Hermès), another amber masterpiece, was the smoothness in lightness, Mitzah (Dior) is its quest in the universe of darkness. But unlike the recent opus of Francis Kurkdjian, pure "dark matter", where rose-amber-benzoin and the devastating animalic notes were creating one of the most dangerous beauties of this year, Mitzah, built in the same tonality, is the refinement of a couture salon in the 50's. Sweet oriental fragrances, heavy décolletés breathing pure Shalimar, gloves and cigarette holders, mink coats, the alluring presence of a panther (one of the famous Dior pattern), the scents of almondy coumarine, opopanax, castoreum, vanilla and precious liquors served to the rich South American clients. Mitzah is the reflection of this world in our times with modern ingredients and one of the most beautiful interpretations of the sweet ambery note. Like in Ambre Antique (Coty), a spicy rose is breathing at the heart of this perfume, where the touches of cinnamon and cloves in the ocean of honeyed sweetness transports us in ancient Rome, through the souvenir of Parfum Royal. An exquisite natural vanilla note, with its dark smoky facets wrapped in velvety sweetness, is the final seal of this perfume with touches of incense and honey - a sublime cachet like the powdery scent of a couture invitation with a beautiful calligraphy.

Christian Dior wrote in his autobiography that "Mitzah Bricard is one of those people, increasingly rare, who make elegance their sole reason for being". She used to wear a very red lipstick and maybe this is the reason why the perfume has a heart note based on rose-magnolia-jasmine, capturing the honeyed sweetness of precious absolutes.

"I wanted to pay tribute to her intense, feline femininity using amber and spicy notes, but also to her spiritual side, by including lots of Incense. The result is a very sensual, mysterious oriental." François Démachy

A facet of the ambery note with patchouli and cinnamon reminds the forgotten Dioressence (so mutilated today by IFRA) and I wish this exceptional note was stronger. The masterpiece of Guy Robert, as pure perfume, used to be one of the most sensual, tenacious and extravagant creation, with an outstanding sillage and an exceptional spiciness. Mitzah, the new exclusive Dior fragrance from "La Collection Couturier Parfumeur" deserves a precious vial and maybe a pure perfume.

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