Diorissimo!

Dior and Edmond Roudnitska (one of the greatest ever perfumers) met in 1955 and made their dream come true in 1956, when the romantic fragrance of Diorissimo was created! According to Christian Dior, Diorissimo is the perfume of his spirit, or, "the scented expression of his soul" as he liked to put it.

French man Edmond Roudnitska wanted to create a perfume that would break the trend of sweet perfumes that were dominating the market at this specific period in time. And although Enmond Roundnitska has a vary array of achievements in perfumery, Diorissimo stands out as one of his most greatest achievements, even with it being a new take on perfume scents at that time!

Diorissimo owns a fresh scent. Top notes include lily-of-the-valley and ylang-ylang, the heart is composed of amaryllis and boronia, with a jasmine after scent.
As I have stated above, Diorissimo owns naturistic scents, which in itself is very feminine. Also when it was released it was aimed at 30+ year old women, as in the 1950s it was more the sophisticated, wealthy woman that would show most interest in designer fragrances.

The perfume was the promoted and advertised through illustrations by René Gruau. Her drawings are delicate and beautifully drawn. I feel that they embody flower-like and naturistic features, as her brush lines are soft and flowing, just like most of the Spring season's attributes. Another thing that also compliments the fragrance's floral fragrance in her drawings is that flowers themselves are very significant in her pieces. This is to emulate Diorissimo's smell and how it is meant to make you feel when you smell it. I think that when you see the ad campaigns for the perfume, surrounded with flowers, you feel happy, uplifted and in a general good mood. By René creating the same effects within her art work is very skilful and definitely allows the customer to understand what the scent is all about.

After analysing René Gruau's work I decided to choose two of her pieces and deconstruct them further, to gain a greater understanding of the scent itself. 

I firstly chose an ad campaign of a woman covered in flowers, instead of clothing. I feel that this signifies by her wearing Diorissimo, it becomes the main aspect of her outfit; it is that significant. Therefore, by her wearing this perfume, her whole outfit will 'grow and flourish' in beauty. Also the colours used within the image, emulate the essence of the fragrance which is full of nature. The colours include: pastel colours pink, yellow and green for the flowers as her dress, with a deep sea blue for the background. Although this ad campaign is very simple, it focuses on one thing, and that is the experience it gives a woman when she wears it. Not only through everything I have mentioned above, but through her body and facial expression. She portrays excitement and lustful look, and her hands are hugging the flowers (that signify the scent), as though she never wants it to wear off of her! 

The second ad campaign that I chose to analyse was one where a woman's hair has now embodied the scent. I feel that this shows me how much René Gruau wanted to constantly show viewers how the scent smoulders anything it touches. I found both a black and white and a coloured version of this ad. I feel that the coloured ad campaign once again contains earthy, nature tones. The background is a reddish, brown colour, and the rest of the drawing has black and white colours flowing through her hair. To me this seems like that is signifying mud or an earthy compost and then on top is the bottle of Diorissimo. 

As the bottle of the luxurious scent is gold, this to me is like finding the gold under the ground! Another thing that I inferred from this image was that the woman is wearing evening gloves, which signifies to me that the scent is aimed at wealthy women that go to different evening events. 

Finally, her body and facial expressions show me that she is in awe of the scent. She is looking in a dream-like manor, and her face is also resting in her hands; which shows that she is in deep though and starry-eyed over the romantic scent.

Dior has now re-launched Diorissomo and has revamped both its' scent and packaging. They needed to changed the way the smell was created, due to the old fashioned methods not being legal any more. It's takes away a little of the old glamour that this historic fragrance held, but it's something that could not be helped.

Also the packaging had been re-designed with a more modern look. The bottle holds an up-right shape, unlike before where there was curves like a woman's figure in the shape of the bottle. Although, Dior has still kept some old fashioned aspects, including: the bottle's top that needs to be pulled up like an old fashioned 'ointment' bottle. Also it contains their 'CD' locked around the bottle's neck. This is an intricate detail that appears to hold an old fashioned elegance and femininity. Finally the thread around the neck of the bottle has a silver thread which is very significant! It ties together the link between fragrance and fashion, in the sense that they are linked. Dior was the first Luxury brand to release a fragrance and clothing together.