A new bloom

IT is designed for the young, but Dior's new perfume, Miss Dior Cherie, goes right back to the roots of the fashion house. 

Dior's creative director John Galliano says that the fragrance was inspired by a dress called Cherie which Christian Dior created for a young Bridgitte Bardot in the late 1940s. The founder of the fashion house also created his first fragrance, Miss Dior, in the summer of 1947, the same time he introduced his famous “Bar'' jacket. 

RileyKeough isthe face ofthe MissDior Cheriefragrance.

Taking a cue from history, Galliano handpicked Riley Keough – Elvis Presley's granddaughter who he calls “rock royalty'' – as the face of the new fragrance and dressed her up in an “ultimate Dior jacket'' designed by him. 

The result? A modern tribute to a classic Dior story. 

For the perfume, Galliano has mixed green mandarin, strawberry leaves, caramel popcorn, wild strawberry sorbet and crystalline musk. “It has the fizz, sparkle, the bubble gum, pop corn, gourmande feel to it, but a more contemporary way for today's generation of girls,'' he says of the scent he calls “delicious''. 

There is a stark contrast between the bottle – complete with the classic metal Dior bow – and the uber fashionable Keough who is pictured with it, but Galliano says that it shows off the mood of the modern Dior woman perfectly. 

“I imagine her sitting at a dressing table trying on different shades of lipstick ... she wants to find her own face, not her mother's. When she spies a bottle of perfume and squirts it on, she recognises it as a scent that her grandmother wore ... she breathes it in, (but) this is far sweeter. And as she looks down, you can tell that even the bottle fits her lifestyle.'' 

According to him, the scent has the sophistication of experience, but mixed with pink bubblegum and youth, it acquires a uniquely independent allure and vibrancy. 

Miss Dior Cherie is available at all Dior counters nationwide and costs RM210 for 50ml and RM304 for 100ml. – By RG