Before Dior reintroduced feminity, long flared skirts, tiny waist and delicate shoulders, the fashion of the 40's emphasized a strong silhouette with wide shoulders, big hats and turbans. The women present at the first fashion show were probably wearing the strong and opulent Shocking, Bandit, Visa, Fracas, Femme. But a new generation of perfumers started to create a different type of fragrances - light, floral, delicate, aldehydic, orris. While Dior was launching his revolution in fashion, perfumes like L'Air du Temps and Le Dix were exploring a universe quite different compared to the powerful notes of the previous decade. They were soft, delicate, based on orris and powdery notes and a lot of lily of the valley, mixed with delicate new woody molecules. Mademoiselle Chanel No 2, though a small commercial project, perfectly reflects the new styles that were in the air already in 1944. 10 years before Edmond Roudnitska's Diorissimo, some perfumers at Roure were already creating with a new aesthetic vision in mind, based on lighter scents and shorter formulae.
Somehow, François Demachy captured the spirit of those days and his new "tuberose" is the opposite of the beautiful and bold Fracas. He eliminated the diva aspect of white flowers and captured only the smoothness of their petals adding also a fresh peppery spicy accent. That's why you will not recognize the tuberose (it's rather the tuberose absolute note) inside this perfume, soft, powdery, creamy, very sensual.
With the New Look, Dior introduced in fashion a very different philosophy of color, reminiscent of Belle Époque era. He loved grays, pastels and those XVIIIth century shades, rather hard to describe. Is it Trianon gray, dust rose, lilas, Marie Antoinette Blue? The same multi floral concept is applied in this perfume where the orris powdery note is as important as the creamy, fruity lactonic facet of the white flowers. In fact this perfume, like Chloé Love, honors the "cosmetic" palette, the scent of lipstick and face powder where the notes of rose, violet, apricot and soft benzoin vanilla are mixed in a delicate nondescript veil. For me it is less the idea of a specific perfume type and more the concept of a presence, delicate and fragile. It is a skinscent, but not the musky type. It's again a parfum lingerie that evokes the Dior 1947 backstage before the unique fashion show that changed the world of fashion for ever: soft shoulders, wasp waist, bosom padded for extra curve, hips that swelled and rustling skirts. We have here the scents of make up, lipstick, face powder, the scent of silk lingerie. Dior introduced a new type of hat, much smaller and often worn with a face veil (voilette) and this orris powder texture aspect is also important in the perfume. Women loved the Dior fashion but they were also mad for Dior silk stockings. This idea, found also in the recent perfume Bas de Soie (Serge Lutens) is somehow present in this creation where the creamy facets of the white flowers have replaced the hyacinth.
One should not forget that Christian Dior admired very much Coco Chanel and he even did a very chanelesque collection at the end of his career. That's why, maybe, we find again the reference to Chanel in this perfume, but it is more subtle, like the silkiness of Iris Poudre (the creation of Pierre Bourdon, a homage to Chanel No5).
Between Chanel No5 creamy feminine notes and the floral sensual bouquet of J'adore, New Look 1947 presents a beautiful delicate floral bouquet with soft vanilla-tiaré facets on the skin, on a base with delicate woody notes: creamy sandalwood, powdery orris, very light vetiver and sweet notes of Siam benzoin, precious vanilla Madagascar and tonka. A shy Diorissimo lily of the valley accord is surrounded by roses à l'ancienne and delicate peonies, ylang ylang Mayotte, orris (like in Dior homme & Cologne d'Argent), a very soft peach note (maybe osmanthus) and a very soft tuberose indian absolute.
"New Look 1947 is a bouquet of flowers with Tuberose at its center, I wanted to modernize this well-known flower through a unique approach, so that all of its facets would be expressed. The Perfume is extremely feminine, sensual and surprising, just like the New Look was in its day." - François Demachy
New Look 1947 (Christian Dior) is neither the complex and sophisticate Miss Dior, nor the pure floral representation of Diorissimo or J'adore. It's more what the 1947 "Colection Corolle" evokes - the change in shape, a new delicacy, the shantung of the original tailleur, the purity of line and the scent of Dior lingerie (corset, gaine, jupon), very important in defining the new shape of fashion. It is not the ball dress, nor the couture drama but the very soft powdery woody note found in classic Dior perfumes created before 1980's.
New Look 1947 (Christian Dior) is neither the complex and sophisticate Miss Dior, nor the pure floral representation of Diorissimo or J'adore. It's more what the 1947 "Colection Corolle" evokes - the change in shape, a new delicacy, the shantung of the original tailleur, the purity of line and the scent of Dior lingerie (corset, gaine, jupon), very important in defining the new shape of fashion. It is not the ball dress, nor the couture drama but the very soft powdery woody note found in classic Dior perfumes created before 1980's.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
