•Descended from a wild rose that was a favourite of Christian Dior, the new Jardin de Granville rose stands straight and tall with almost no thorns. Its white petals are tinted with pink, evocative of the quality of light at Dior's childhood home in Granville, Normandy
•This new hybrid, seven years in the making, was baptised on June 9 in the presence of luxury-goods conglomerate LVMH's ethnobotanist Patrice André, members of the Dior marketing team and the celebrated rose hybridist André Eve
Why this rose is important
•The Jardin de Granville rose is notable for both its perfect petals and its robustness
•Grown completely organically, it needs no pesticides - this was one of LVMH's prerequisites for the flower in order to be able to develop its active ingredients for cosmetics
•Using these unique properties, the LVMH team has created new skincare products that combine the beauty and freshness of the rose with its robust resistance to disease
•The luxury skincare line will be called Satine and is to be launched worldwide this autumn
Why flowers, and roses in particular?
•For Christian Dior, flowers were a major source of inspiration. His very first fashion collection, in 1947, was based on flowers. He announced at the launch: "I will design flower women [femmes fleurs], with soft shoulders, generous bosoms, waists as fine as vines and skirts as wide as corollas." This legendary collection was subsequently dubbed the New Look by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar
•John Galliano took inspiration from Dior's floral heritage with his Autumn-Winter 2010-2011 couture collection, which was directly inspired by flowers. "I'm having a floral moment" he announced as he launched a vibrant series of corolla-shaped creations in petal-soft fabrics, in an eye-catching palette of pale colours combined with saturated hues.
•Christian Dior's love of roses was deep-rooted. He once said: "The Dior woman is a queen among women, just as the rose is the queen among flowers." His famous Ispahan dress from his second collection, for autumn/winter 1947/48, featured two large roses for the bust
•Dior was true to the rose and the other flowers of his childhood in the perfumes he launched for Maison Dior. Miss Dior and Diorissimo perfumes were directly inspired by the gardens at Granville, as witnessed in the very first bottle designs - the Diorissimo bottle, for example, was in the form of a Baccarat crystal vase topped with a gilded bouquet of flowers
Why Dior gardens?
•Dior's childhood home in Granville was a haven where he developed his talents for gardening, architecture and art before discovering his talent for fashion. His penchant for gardening was so strong that, at the age of 15, his mother allowed him to design a pool garden, a pergola and the garden furniture
•This year at the Chelsea Flower Show, the Christian Before Dior garden celebrated the design features of Dior's original pool garden, featuring his favourite colours and flowers: roses were showcased in plantings of grey, pink, white and mauve, and his garden chairs were reproduced and accessorised with a chic jacket, complete with a sprig of lily of the valley
•From fashion to gardens, perfume to pergolas, and now a signature rose, Maison Dior can celebrate all of Christian Dior's tastes and talents
Link
www.roses-anciennes-eve.com
WGSN.com
One of the most recognizable, symbolic and inspirational peices, of President Obama.
