How Dior Perfume Creation Director Francis Kurkdjian Brought Monsieur Dior’s Paradise Garden to Life

Words by Verity Clark

June tends to be the turning point when you can feel summer in the air – smell it even. Weekends stretch a little longer, alfresco lunches blend into dinners, and the idea of escaping to the countryside to avoid the concrete jungle’s heat becomes a most tempting idea. Capturing that feeling of retreating into nature so perfectly is the aptly named Dior Paradise, new to La Collection Privée Christian Dior.

The latest addition to La Collection Privée Christian Dior, this radiant and woody scent was created by Dior perfume creation director Francis Kurkdjian and was built around a simple idea: “The aim and the goal of everything is about happiness… bringing happiness and building happiness.” That idea can be traced back to Christian Dior himself and, more specifically, to Château de La Colle Noire, where he set about recreating what Kurkdjian describes as “this lost paradise of childhood”. The garden wasn’t the creation of nature by chance – it was an estate lovingly and intentionally designed, down to the hundreds of almond trees that would bloom at the end of winter. In the fragrance, that vision translates into something bright and composed: almond at the centre, lifted by citrus and grounded by a soft, warm base.

Kurkdjian’s process starts with structure rather than ingredients. “When I start the project, my story is made… I know exactly where I want to go.” The process, however, is not quite as linear, as Kurkdjian describes moving back and forth adjusting, refining, sometimes undoing the blend. “It’s like when you write a text… sometimes you just change one word. It’s exactly the same thing when you create a formula.” In Dior Paradise, almond acts as what he calls a “sensory trigger”, a way into Dior’s own memories. The citrus notes are more functional: “Like when you’re on stage, the lighting… it makes it [come] alive.” Much of this relies on research as much as instinct. Kurkdjian describes listening to hours of archival recordings and gathering fragments of Dior’s life in order to “step into his head”. Honouring a memory is a delicate thing, and Kurkdjian approaches it with the utmost reverence, detail and, most importantly, a childlike joy.