[magnificent music]
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-[Charlize in English] Nice to meet you! -[Francis] Me too. I'm very honored.
Yes!
-Thank you for your time. -Thank you.
It's so nice to finally meet you. I always just hear about you.
Now, I have a face.
Now, we have a face. And now, I feel...
I'm getting younger because
the first time I saw you in the Dior...
in the famous Dior apartment advertising.
I think it was very audacious.
Yeah.
It was unique. I still have it in my mind.
Oh, that's really nice. Thank you so much.
-I brought a few things from Paris. -Amazing.
-Of course, what I've just created. -Wow.
-First... -[Charlize] I haven't smelled it.
-I know. And I have a question. -Yes?
Do you have a feeling of what this new fragrance could smell like?
I would say something very clean and simple.
So, this is the one you may know. This is the eau de parfum.
It smells like home. I know this one.
[laughter]
So now, this is the... drum roll...
Wait, so this is it? I'm so excited.
So this is it!
Yay! This is so special that I get to smell this with you.
Merci beaucoup. Thank you.
It's very special to me as well as you can imagine.
[intense music]
-Oh, my gosh. It's so... -[music fades]
[upbeat music]
PARIS, FRANCE 1 YEAR EARLIER
[Francis in French] I like mornings.
It is my moment where I feel fresh, my mind is clear.
Everything flows. There is no traffic in Paris.
It's peaceful.
Even at the office, there are no meetings.
I could work from home, but I like going to the office.
[music continues]
I am Francis Kurkdjian, perfumer
and Perfume Creation Director at Parfums Christian Dior.
I grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis, outside of Paris.
I discovered the perfumer profession aged 14.
The job of a perfumer is to combine ingredients,
side by side, in an aesthetic balance
that corresponds to the idea in your mind.
[music fades]
[sighs] I am working on a fragrance that is coming out in September and...
I changed tack along the way.
A new idea came to light
and I have to make some progress.
[reflective music]
Since arriving at the House of Dior, my first major challenge
is to reinvent J'adore.
It does make my head spin.
It is Dior's iconic fragrance,
a composition that is...
unsurpassed to date.
Am I able to do better? I don't know.
I have 30 years of experience.
My career started straight out of school, in 1995,
with the creation of Le Mâle by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
I was only 25.
It catapulted me straight into the big league.
Throughout my career, I have worked for several brands,
Burberry, Saint Laurent, Guerlain, Armani, Dior,
and even founded my own label.
In 2021, I was contacted about being part of the House of Dior.
From that moment on, the idea of joining Dior never left me.
It was something very profound
and almost essential to my life.
I didn't want to be at Dior. I desired it. That is different.
[radio host] From the Eiffel Tower to the Champs-Elysées,
Avenue Montaigne is lined with cars from all around,
bringing elegance from around the world to its leafy shade.
They come to entrust the art of styling
to the man who has become their most precious ally.
For these women, his name
embodies all the prestige of French haute couture,
Christian Dior.
In the spring of 1947, when Christian Dior launched his Corolle collection,
christened "New Look" by America, there was talk of revolution.
Women were rediscovering truly feminine forms.
[Frédéric] From the moment, the House of Dior was created in 1947,
Dior swept everyone aside.
FIRST CHRISTIAN DIOR FASHION SHOW 1947
[intense upbeat music]
We can consider February 12, 1947, the first Christian Dior fashion show,
as a key date in fashion history.
Nothing would ever be the same.
[silence]
[Frédéric] The years of war and depression were left behind.
Christian Dior said to women,
"Put yourself in the spotlight. Be fabulous. Be feminine."
You can really see the New Look figure,
the Corolle line.
Glamor, style,
elegance, sophistication.
His dream was to dress women from head to toe.
He also said that perfume was the final touch to an outfit,
the finishing touch.
He did not wait for Dior's reputation to take root
after three, five, ten years, as is often the case.
From the very first year, he wanted to create a fragrance.
So, in our innermost, darkest depths,
I would suggest looking at some fairly old articles,
from the 1947 to 1950 period.
[Francis] What's this? It's Diorama. That's Roudnitska as well.
[both] It's from 1949.
[Francis] Wait for it. Drum roll...
-Suspense. Thank you. -It smells like Aunt Françoise.
In my family environment,
there is a special person whom I call Aunt Françoise,
who is a close friend of my mother
and worked for Christian Dior from 1955 to 1959.
She was a pattern maker in the pattern workshop,
and so, from a young age, I grew up
around Françoise's stories about Monsieur Dior.
Like a children's book. Mr. Dior drives a car,
Mr. Dior takes the elevator,
Mr. Dior perfumes the floors of Avenue Montaigne with Diorissimo.
And almost 30 or even 40 years later,
when the chance to work at Dior presented itself,
the first person I called, since my mother has passed away, was Françoise.
Beautiful. There's a harmony with Diorella later on.
It is kind of the pinnacle of femininity in the 1940s,
and today, when you smell these kinds of notes,
it could actually be completely genderless.
It could almost be masculine.
I had an idea of what Dior was like,
but from the inside, it is completely different.
Since coming here, I have immersed myself in this house,
its founder, what he said, what he wrote...
This is a letter.
[Frédéric] It refers to a perfume, which I believe
has nothing to do with Diorissimo. Maybe it was never made.
Is this the only letter we have?
I am trying to get inside his mind.
1947 to 1957.
He died aged 52, and everything he had built,
he did it in ten years.
It's impressive. It's immense.
It is a very special journey, very special indeed.
But Diorama is magnificent.
My role as creation director is to try
to bring this past back to life without being old-fashioned.
From 1947, from 1950,
Christian Dior chose the amphora as the shape.
Indeed, it is similar to the New Look style.
With J'adore, maybe the amphora is flipped to become a droplet.
Today, when you look at the stylistic elements of J'adore,
you realize that it is close to Christian Dior's original message.
A message of enthusiasm, optimism,
and a departure from the 1990 era,
which was quite cold, somber and minimalist.
This offers something quite extravagant.
-[Frédéric] We have this too. -What is it?
[Frédéric] It is the storyboard by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and his team.
The golden pool.
We're in a kind of sacred temple.
And a divine being walks out of the golden pool.
I think that will surprise people.
[Francis] Yes, with the foot like that...
[magnificent music]
[Mondino] No hair, no makeup, no stylist, little lighting.
I put others in the spotlight. I don't want to be center stage.
I prefer the shadows.
Everything is iconic with J'adore.
In 1999, I was presented with this golden bottle.
The necklace is like a Maasai necklace.
There was gold everywhere you looked.
It was so removed from the norm at that time.
I thought about the liquid, the gold...
How about a pool of gold?
I didn't think it would work at all.
But it turns out that it did.
The rocket had been launched.
[Charlize in English] One of the first campaigns I did with Mondino was
kind of an elimination of gold
and saying that let's not celebrate gold in this way where it's a god.
It's just gold. It's just metal.
There is gold in all of us, meaning we're all special.
[Mondino in French] Her presence, her blondness,
her power, that Amazonian quality,
the idea that she comes home
and abuses this luxury,
the necklace, the clothes, the shoes,
to finally feel good.
She is a woman of action
who is starting to make demands,
who doesn't need a man,
who doesn't need a car,
and who is not playing a character.
She is becoming a guide.
[in English] The J'adore woman is always in movement.
She's always moving and kind of has this feeling of,
like, moving forward.
I think deep down inside, people relate to the authenticity.
And I think that's why J'adore has been so successful.
[in French] With the bottle, Charlize, the name, the fragrance and the adverts,
all the iconic ingredients are there.
And there you have it. After 20 years, it is enshrined forever.
J'adore will outlast us.
Don't worry. You may all die,
but J’adore will always be there.
[laughs] Don't put that in!
[music stopped, city sounds]
[Francis] Retouching such an icon is a huge responsibility.
I clearly have an obligation to achieve results.
The first thing I want to and, in fact, must do
is to visit Calice Becker and talk to her.
She composed J'adore in 1999. We've known each other for 20 years.
We worked together, side by side, in New York,
when she was working on this project for J'adore.
It was a competition open to the greatest perfumers of the time.
This is everything that I didn't throw away.
I don't have all the drafts.
Amaranth wood, Damascus plum.
I remember. We had discussed it in New York.
[Francis] Calice Becker achieved the unthinkable.
MASTER PERFUMER
This is the complete formula,
fully annotated with all the qualities you can...
I clearly remember the commotion it caused at the factory.
The formula had to be repatriated... It fits on three pages.
As I was creating J'adore, when I started combining the flowers,
essentially white flowers,
it came to me like an apparition, and it was jasmine sambac,
as with the lily of the valley and the honeysuckle,
I had all the notes that fitted with the jasmine.
It became obvious.
So, I pushed the jasmine sambac
to create this floral diffusion
that can be savored from a great distance.
[Calice] Look at what I found.
Is it...?
I don't know if they...
And look at what is written.
This is "the complete concentrate, finished using materials from Dior."
-You recognize it. -Look.
-That's crazy. -J'adore focuses...
-You recognize it. -Absolutely.
[emotional music]
It is interesting to delve into the archives...
Your archives, not Dior's,
but it is Dior's history, in a way.
I think it was important because I feel obliged to do it well.
I can't wait to see what you come up with
and what you will do with the story of J'adore.
Above all, I remember that in 1999,
jasmine sambac was the making of J'adore and vice versa.
MADURAI, INDIA
[indian music]
[honking]
I've been looking forward to this trip because India
is a perfumery hub in terms of raw materials.
It is a palette of natural products that are very important to perfumery.
[hubbub]
-[in English] 90% of sambac goes there. -In the hair.
[Raja] It's used in temples and stuff like that.
Between 3% and 5% is what is used in the fragrance industry.
So, most of the usage of the flowers is domestic.
When Dior launched J'adore, sambac became very popular.
And since then,
sambac's outlook as an ingredient
in the fragrance industry has completely changed.
Sambac is the new hero.
[crowd chatting]
Madurai is probably a synonym to sambac.
The quality of the flowers
that come from this city, Madurai, and its surroundings
is so special because of its soil
and the climatic conditions
that no other sambac that is grown anywhere else
can be claimed as Madurai Malli.
[engine roar]
[indian music]
[birds twittering]
[Raja] We are about 40 kilometers south of Madurai,
closer to the city called Dindigul,
where this is the main sambac growing bed.
The picking is done as buds,
and it starts at six o'clock in the morning
and goes on till 11 or 12 in the afternoon.
[engine roar]
[music stops]
[birds twittering]
[Francis in French] Have you ever smelled a banana flower?
It smells really good.
[in English] Hello. Good morning.
Oh, cutie!
I’m not cute when I wake up, but you are cute.
Hi. Her name is Ria.
-Ria. -[Francis] Ria?
Oh, too many people today.
Oh, dear!
[in French] So, this is sambac.
[rooster crows]
Very stiff and green.
You know, it's a bit...
Frédérique.
It smells a bit like methyl benzoate.
[indistinct chatting]
It is my first trip with Frédérique Lecoeur,
a trained perfumer.
We met 25 years ago.
Her main role is to ensure that the formulae are followed
and to help me search the world and find
the finest raw materials for our fragrances.
It goes with the ethereal bouquet of J'adore.
[Francis] We have Jasminum grandiflorum and Jasminum sambac.
Sambac doesn't grow in Grasse. It is from India.
To get the chance to have them both together
is a real joy.
In some contexts, I'll like the sambac.
In others, it's the grandiflorum.
There are two or three essential fruity facets
that do not exist in other flowers.
My idea for L'Or de J'adore is...
to look for...
To look for something not found in J'adore,
the...
This skin, this flesh, this...
fullness.
It's silky and buttery.
When Charlize says that in the end, there is no gold,
in that iconic advert where she throws off her clothes,
and what remains is J'adore, the skin.
That is what remains. Skin and perfume.
What else do you need in life?
Do you get the mango?
Mango? I was thinking of a simple strawberry.
Dried mango or candied.
Candied, yes, candied fruit.
It makes me want to eat it.
It is almost physical.
You know the scent, but forget the material.
You forget where it comes from, how it is grown and by whom.
Sometimes, these little reminders can be just the thing
to retrace their origins.
[birds twittering]
[indian music]
[Francis] My visits to markets or through the streets,
for me, always conjure up a memory I had as a young man
who wanted to become a perfumer.
You take two steps and you get spices.
Turn your head and you get flowers.
[hubbub]
You turn left and get the scent of curry and cumin.
The abundance of it is so exciting.
In India, all your senses are intensified.
[indian music]
[intense music]
[Francis] Here's the rose... which is in the wrong place.
-Should I? -[Francis] Go ahead.
CREATION ASSISTANT
Let's smell it.
I develop the first formula and set out ideas.
Then, with Maïa, it's like a game of table tennis.
So, from memory,
there must be something that is slightly floral.
-Mahonial. We'll do it in the next blend. -Yes, but...
Something that...
[indistinct whispering]
"The rose should be dosed differently. It feels old."
[Francis] It is extremely precise work. It comes down to a thousandth of a gram.
You need dozens of trials
before finding the perfect proportions.
[peaceful music]
Today, I'm a bit stressed.
I'm presenting my first Dior creation to Véronique, Sana and Kevin.
No, I know why. Wait, 0.6...
So, it's... It's tense.
It is Francis' first time working on a Dior fragrance.
It is a monumental fragrance
that rocked the perfume world in the 2000s and made its mark on the century.
It is a moment of extreme vulnerability.
I had very little time to finalize this version.
Of course it puts pressure on me.
I have worn J'adore since it was launched.
And I'm here with this wild hope
of falling in love all over again with my new version of J'adore.
[intense music]
And now, J'adore!
And now, J'adore.
Did the brief inspire you?
The brief? I loved it.
[laughter]
I always say it, and I'll say it again, but it is true.
The most beautiful, simple stories have the most impact.
That's what makes great perfume.
The idea of liquid gold,
the essence of gold, heating gold
in a formula where L'Or de J'adore has the flowers of J'adore...
It is all easy to explain.
When it is easy to explain, it is easy to translate.
The aim is to restore a floral shape
that is slightly more pronounced.
I used the original curve.
My vision for this fragrance is...
If I had to heat the formula,
what would be the ingredients that aren't needed
to tell the story of J'adore in a more condensed way?
[Véronique] I can tell that you have steered away from certain ingredients.
You know? There is less of a vanilla base than before.
I find the top notes quite delicious.
Today, are you...?
In the body, is it possible that we're getting
a bit too much eau de parfum?
What do you think, Kevin?
It is very true to the eau de parfum.
I think it is almost the quintessential eau de parfum.
[Sana] It's almost the purified version.
It has a very syrupy aspect, a floral syrup.
It fits perfectly in the world of J'adore.
It is like you said, Kevin.
For me, it is quintessential. It has a...
a purist take on the eau de parfum.
Perhaps it is lacking a certain something
that could go even further than that,
probably something in the initial notes, you know?
Maybe a gold that is more powerful, more intense.
-Dazzling. -Dazzling with a step to the side.
Something more ostentatious than the eau de parfum.
-Okay. -Okay?
The idea is that J'adore
heats up on the skin. Maybe it could be related to that.
Go on! Let go! Push harder, right?
-[Francis] In any case, you'll wear them. -We'll wear them and let you know.
I am really happy with this first step because you could have been way off.
[Sana] This meets the brief.
I know you hate it when we're all happy, but...
[Francis] I find it suspicious.
[laughter]
[Véronique] We have a perfect score, so I am thrilled
because it's the right direction. I want him to go even further.
J'adore is daring to let go.
Although it went well,
I am not happy.
I know that they like it, but deep down,
I feel like I'm not on the right track.
Something isn't right.
[reflective music]
The idea presented to me at the start was the quest of pure gold.
Molten gold, so the impurities evaporate.
I think I have to push that idea even further.
I need to tweak the formula
and be a bit more daring.
When I am doubting myself,
generally speaking, I leave it for a few days.
I try to empty my mind.
MONTAUROUX, GRASSE REGION, FRANCE CHÂTEAU DE LA COLLE NOIRE
[pastoral music]
To compose a fragrance, I need silence.
I need peace and tranquility.
These are the gardens of La Colle Noire,
Christian Dior's second home.
This is where he came to unwind.
[birds twittering]
It's like being behind the scenes of Avenue Montaigne.
He was a man who loved nature. He is viewed as a Parisian,
he was Paris and fashion, but he was deeply attached to nature,
to flowers, to plants.
There were actual plantations of jasmine and roses.
There were hectares of them,
not just a few beds.
For me, he was Dior in Paris
and Christian at La Colle Noire.
Monsieur's guest book.
August 8, 1956, with signatures from the likes of Chagall,
Catherine Dior, his sister,
Bernard Buffet, of course.
It is fairly impressive.
June 13, June 15.
Clearly, Bernard Buffet was a regular visitor.
On his desk, you can see the cover of Time.
Back then, it was unheard of for Time to put a dressmaker on the cover.
I like his phone. It has two saved numbers.
His sister and the office.
To imagine him still alive and to feel his presence,
for me, is actually very important.
Sometimes, I talk to him.
It's a dialogue.
It's almost like I'm asking him if he is proud of me.
It sounds totally insane, I know.
J'adore is Dior in an exaggerated femininity
and an accomplished femininity.
Maybe we need to restore its density, something plump, voluptuous.
Something more carnal, more addictive.
[music fades]
PARIS, FRANCE NIGHT BEFORE THE DIOR FASHION SHOW
[magnificent music]
[hubbub]
And I think all the people are very happy to see you with this jacket and this.
It's like so comfortable.
All of this is so comfortable.
I love it. I'm so excited for tomorrow.
I have not been to a show...
Yes, I know. I'm really...
...in 8 years or something. It's been so long.
[hubbub]
-You want to sit? -Yes, absolutely.
[indistinct chattering]
You're inspired by young people, right?
Absolutely. I travel all the time with my team.
[intense music]
-Focus. Focus. -I'm sorry!
Oh, wow. Look at this.
It's very nice.
Oh, wow.
-It's a pearl? -Yes.
[indistinct chattering]
Oh, my God. This is amazing too.
-Beautiful. -Thank you.
Incredible. Wow. So amazing.
I feel honored that Charlize Theron appreciates my clothes
because she is a woman who doesn't just represent an icon
as an actress, but also as an individual.
Her strength, her independence and her incredible talent.
There's no need to recount Charlize's career
to prove
the strength she embodies.
[soft music]
PARIS, FRANCE JARDIN DES TUILERIES, DIOR FASHION SHOW
[upbeat music]
[Francis] Inspiration is very personal.
As a perfumer, anything can be inspiring.
In a house like Dior, fashion is, of course, one source.
My passion for fragrance comes from my love of fashion,
and more precisely, the craftsmanship behind the fashion.
I grew up around it. My grandfather was a tailor.
My mother sewed beautifully.
I remember the rolls of fabric.
I can spend hours in a studio
watching people work, needlework as my grandparents called it.
I wanted to be a designer, but since I can't draw,
I decided that being a perfumer for a designer
would definitely be
a way into this profession that I admire so much.
It is a twist of fate.
[paparazzi chatting]
[in English] I'm a very, very big fan of Maria Grazia.
I find her to be a phenomenal talent, artist, woman.
She's such an incredible spirit to be around.
So, to be able to share some of what has inspired her
through art and clothes,
to share that with her today is really exciting.
Thank you so much.
[magnificent music]
[speaks in Mandarin]
[the pace picks up]
[Francis in French] Shows are always magical.
And what I'm drawn to when I look at Maria Grazia's work
is the way she uses lines.
The line of a garment, when I transpose it into perfume,
is almost an olfactory family.
It can be reinterpreted infinitely.
PARIS, FRANCE HAUTE COUTURE STUDIO
[magnificent music]
[Hongbo] This is the House of Dior haute couture studio.
We're currently working on a design by Maria Grazia.
Charlize Theron will wear this dress for the next J'adore campaign.
Here, you have more detail with the draping.
Braids around the neckline
and parts of the dress will be braided into the neckline.
It's quite Grecian.
[in Italian] The first thing that characterizes a person is their perfume.
The fragrance changes depending on the skin,
just like clothing characterizes the person wearing it.
For Charlize, I really enjoyed combining those two elements.
[in English] Hello. [in French] Welcome to Dior.
XIN LIU, SINGER, BRAND AMBASSADOR
-[in English] My pleasure as well. -This is my album "Xanadu".
Thank you.
[Francis in French] Today, I'm meeting Xin Liu, our ambassador.
Please follow me to the laboratory.
This is Mariana, Cristina, Andrei. They are perfumer assistants.
[in Mandarin] Today is my first time meeting a perfumer
and understanding each stage of composing a fragrance.
I've been looking forward to it.
[in French] I will show you how I work.
The project I'm currently working on is to create a formula
that is as accomplished as possible and... I want to say as powerful as possible.
It is like you taking a piece of music that a singer
created 25 years ago
and you have to imagine or you are entrusted
to create a modern version.
[in Mandarin] Like in music,
you create harmonies with the elements you blend?
[in French] This is called a formula.
It is like a piece of music.
Each name here is the name of an ingredient.
Each ingredient corresponds to a value, a weight.
Like in music, notes have a duration.
For this project, this is the first draft,
like the first version of a song.
It is the initial inspiration.
And now, I'm at 74, 75, 76.
So, I have already done about 70 different versions
or corrections of the same fragrance.
[Xin Liu in Mandarin] My first contact with scent was near my school.
I spent a lot of time there and there was a very sweet scent.
At that time, maybe because I had a sweet tooth,
I was more sensitive to sweet scents,
so, when I was younger, I liked the fruitier notes.
[Francis in French] I'm going to ask you to smell
the same flower from two different places.
You need several thousand flowers...
For a single drop, you need several thousand flowers.
[magnificent music]
[Carole] When you're in Grasse, you have something extra in your DNA,
the DNA of flowers.
In our families, through the generations,
many were producers
or worked in perfume factories.
It is three centuries of history.
The foundations of perfumery are built on
a flower's quality,
such as rose, jasmine, tuberose, orange blossom,
which are extraordinary here.
That is how the story begins.
[Armelle] Look, your 450 kilos are on their way. Isn't this plot amazing?
-[Francis] It's a beautiful plot. -[Armelle] Beautiful, right?
[Armelle] This plot is three years old. It is still young.
It is off to a really great start. It is very consistent.
[Francis] So good.
A few days ago, they smelled like lemons
and geraniol, but really strongly.
And now, boom, it has changed to notes of talcum powder.
Don't you think?
[Francis] I think they have lost some of their spicier notes.
Picking roses is not something I had experience with.
I think it is important, being at Dior,
to experience this initiation.
As if I needed to woo the flowers too
to make them reveal their final secret.
[Armelle] The partnership with Dior is not important. It is essential.
Not just for me, but for the region as a whole.
The idea is that everyone contributes
their best qualities.
Dior has the means
and we have know-how,
expertise and experience.
If a house like Dior had no need for products like these,
we would disappear, pure and simple.
[Pascal] The flowers look like this when we gather them.
We use the foosball technique.
You take it and break it.
In 2016, Parfums Christian Dior were looking for producers
for fragrant plants,
so we put ourselves forward to work with them.
We had to find some of the veterans
to teach the young ones
and redevelop an industry that was disappearing.
Here, on the plantations, we don't use any chemicals.
I think the fewer the products, the better we feel.
I like doing this.
It's lovely to see them open up.
This is the baby centifolia.
[Carole] As a producer, we are concerned about scent.
The flowers have to be picked at exactly the right moment,
when they are the most fragrant.
We take great care in respecting the raw material
and delivering it promptly
to avoid maceration or oxidation.
When I arrive at the factory, I want them to be
the most beautiful, fragrant and intense.
[engine roar]
[magnificent music builds up slowly]
Shall we put them there?
[Carole] The fragrant flowers, plants and natural ingredients
have to go through an industrial process
to extract the scent from the fragrant body.
The aim is to capture all the scent molecules
found in all of these flowers.
This process results in the creation of a substance
known as the absolute essential oil.
Past generations described it as absolute
because it captures the very spirit of the flower.
Today, we simply call it the absolute.
All of these techniques, these skills, this expertise,
which can't be studied in books and are typical to Grasse,
were part of something that very nearly disappeared.
It's a story of the heart,
a story of heart and soul.
[music slowly fades]
-[Francis] Mariana? -[Mariana] Yes.
Tell me. Can you make me blend 11,
the latest one, fresh, and number 12, okay?
For the solution, make it at 20%.
And if we have Jasmodione, I'd like to get another smell.
I'd like them... pure.
Thank you.
[reflective music]
[Francis] When I don't get what I want, there are two solutions.
Either I started off on the wrong foot
or it has been badly translated.
It has to be good, but, well...
There is a sense of frustration to not get...
It's all there, the name, everything.
Everything, but the main event.
[Herve] In 1997,
I was selected to design the shape of the bottle
because I designed jewelry and items that were precious, feminine,
and golden.
I am not a fragrance specialist.
When I was asked to design the bottle, my initial inspiration
came from the forms of John Galliano,
sinuous and elongated
with extremely long necks.
For me, it was only natural to design a bottle in harmony
with these extremely feminine forms.
I tried putting the name on the bottle,
putting it in gold, in relief, everything,
but it ruined the shape and made it seem ordinary.
We came up with the idea of putting the name under the crystal droplet,
like a hallmark on a piece of jewelry or a precious object.
That was revolutionary.
The bottle is alive.
As long as we keep this shape, which is precise
and both restricted and generous,
it remains extremely modern.
Therefore, this bottle can live several lives.
PACKAGING DESIGN STUDIO
[soft music]
[Rozenn] The gold will feature on the upper part.
Technically, it might give it more purity.
[woman] Something smoother.
The way you read the current J’adore,
it is a droplet, a necklace and pearl on top.
Here, I get the impression that you want a monolith.
[man] Exactly. There are no more levels. It is a single unit.
[Rozenn] You want a smooth curve.
-Yes. Stripped down, purified. -I see. That's interesting.
It could be interesting to move away from the traditional ore.
Exactly. The necklace with fewer details and...
And we'll see if we end up leaving it smooth.
-Here, you... -[Rozenn] You want a little vibration,
just to simulate the necklace
with a slight deflection,
but not too much, so it is just a suggestion,
without being too ornamental.
I think we need to purify the bottle as much as possible,
in terms of J’adore's story. Okay.
[soft beat]
TOKYO, JAPAN
I'm invited to the 500th anniversary of the Kōdō ceremony in Japan.
[intense music]
For me, Japan encapsulates the dialogue between tradition and modernity.
In my current process,
modernity means simplifying things as much as possible.
It is an obsession.
So, this invitation came at exactly the right time.
The Kōdō ceremony is a Kyoto tradition.
Kōdō means "the way of fragrance."
When the Japanese say, "Listen to the fragrance,"
it goes beyond the scent.
It's about feeling the fragrance.
Without doubt, with J'adore, the aim is to capture that idea.
A kōdō session keeps me grounded.
It forces me into myself to stop me from moving too fast.
[in Japanese] The art of kōdō began here, 500 years ago,
at the Ginkaku-ji temple, in Kyoto.
In the art of kōdō, we smell koboku, natural wood incense
gathered in southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Using the ashes, a small mound is formed
on which lines are traced representing the five elements,
wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
The wood incense is placed on top of the mound
and is held with the palm of the hand, guiding the fragrance into the nose.
The fragrance is inhaled deep into the heart.
Rich in natural essences, it lifts our spirits.
I am sure that Francis feels something
when he "listens" to the fragrance of incense.
[Francis in French] It takes absolute concentration
to ensure that every gesture is perfect,
using as little energy as possible.
And to feel it, experience it,
in terms of where I am now, for me,
is very important for the J'adore project.
[peaceful music]
After days and weeks of work,
certainties, doubts, renouncements,
I think we have succeeded.
Can you make up a solution, just a vial,
5ml, please? Thank you.
This new version is clear and evident,
but different from my last offering
that was very well received.
But, well, I think you have to
follow through on your ideas and convictions.
I hope they join me on this new interpretation.
There's a great quote from Monsieur Dior that is in my office. It says,
"Respect tradition and dare to be bold."
And that is what I'm trying to do today.
Francis wanted to take some space between the two olfactory sessions.
It's been a while now.
He went to Japan. He must have cleared his mind
and seen things, so my expectations are high.
I know this will shake things up. I'm aware.
But with this new proposition, I am utterly convinced.
There is a different way of envisaging the story of J'adore
and that's what I've brought.
I have a new proposition that I have called "I Love Gold."
The quest for gold, the evaporation of impurities,
it is all part of the same story.
It is just another way of articulating the formula
and restoring that fullness, right?
Rounded, solar and feminine qualities,
but not passive femininity, something very bold.
That is the basic concept.
[Sana] Thank you.
[Véronique] Uh-uh...
[Francis] You have Dior's key flowers, jasmine and rose.
-[Sana] It is more rounded. -It is more rounded because...
I actually reduced the more... classic floral notes
-from the original. -Slightly drier, powdery.
Drier and powdery, exactly.
It is almost like the aldehydes of the 1970s.
[Véronique] It is... There is such a big difference.
Actually, I was bothered by this slightly opaque note.
It was matte, like brushed gold.
I wanted something more dazzling, more luminous.
I think your trace is certainly there.
-Now, we just have to... -A signature.
I think that the fruity aspect gives it a sense of brightness,
joy and youthfulness.
I almost feel ashamed because with the last one,
I was already pretty happy.
-But now... -[Sana] I was too.
You know, this was a big step, so...
-[Kevin] I am convinced. -This is...
Something totally evident.
[Francis] Yes, it is easier to understand. It's less...
It is very direct.
[Sana] It smells good in every sense of the word, I'd say.
We are very much in agreement. Yes, let's go.
I didn't think we'd say that given how much I liked the last one.
It is a magical moment.
Any doubts I might have had vanished,
and I'm relieved because it was a blank page, this story with Dior.
[Véronique] Decision made!
Bravo!
It's quite exhilarating.
I am happy, truly.
Because when you approve a new olfactive composition,
you're approving part of Dior's history.
It is brilliant for us.
[intense music]
Seeing your fragrance suddenly come to life on the production lines
is a very special feeling.
It is amazing and a huge moment. It's all there.
The fragrance lives.
Every new fragrance
is a massive celebration of the spirit of the House of Dior
and of Christian Dior.
So I wanted to thank you from the heart.
Thank you and thanks for your time.
[applause]
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
-[Charlize] So this is it? I'm so excited. -[Francis] This is it.
Yay.
This is so special that I get to smell this with you.
Merci beaucoup. Thank you.
It's very special to me as well as you can imagine.
Oh, my gosh. It's so...
Delicious.
Wow.
A much more complex floral scent.
So good.
Really is so good.
Oh, wow.
Well, you made me so happy today.
Thank you so much for coming and meeting me.
And I love it. It's really... L'Or is amazing.
-We'll see how it feels on your skin. -It's beautiful.
Maybe after the eau de parfum.
Congratulations.
-Thank you. -So nice to meet you.
Thank you.
[peaceful music]
LA, CALIFORNIA FITTING FOR AD CAMPAIGN
Hongbo, you've made so many dresses for me. I am so lucky.
This is my honor. I'm so lucky too.
So pretty.
-Very delicate. -Yes. Like me.
Of course.
Always.
You feel good? Yes. I love it.
-You ready? -Yeah.
Okay. Are you going to help me?
Don't let me fall.
[laughter]
[peaceful music]
PARIS, FRANCE LAUNCH DAY
[Véronique] Monsieur Dior was always close to artists.
For us, it is part of our mission to continue
this house's special connection to the art world.
We wanted
Jean-Michel Othoniel to take on this magnificent J'adore
with an exceptional limited edition.
[shout]
[Jean-Michel] As a sculptor,
I am better known for monumental outdoor pieces.
The thing I love about this
is reducing a sculpture to a more intimate scale.
I wanted the piece to be close to the fragrance,
meaning it sits like a necklace
that takes the shape of a rose
that is set on the bottle like a jewel.
[thrilling music]
It is not just a fragrance; it is a work of art.
[Francis] A fragrance launch doesn't make me nervous.
It is more than that.
Did I get the job done?
Will people like it?
Will women feel beautiful wearing it?
Will it...? A creator is never satisfied.
But it's fine. It's part of the package.
After 30 years, you live with it.
[Véronique] It is an emotional moment for me
because I think about every person
who has played a part, of course, Francis, first and foremost,
but all of the helping hands, everyone behind the scenes
who carries this fragrance
and who will make this launch a success.
For that, I am extremely proud of this team.
It is a feeling that is impossible to describe.
It is the culmination of weeks of work
and suddenly, the fragrance comes alive.
It now belongs to all those who will wear it.
How are you? Good to see you.
[music builds up]
[music fades]
[bass sound]
PARIS, FRANCE A FEW DAYS LATER
[soft piano music]
[Francis] Months ago, at the archives, I came across a letter
from August 23, 1950.
This is a letter.
It refers to a perfume that was maybe never made.
Is this the only letter we have?
The surprising and amazing thing about this letter
is that Christian Dior mentions
a fragrance that he desires,
a dream fragrance.
He lists the main ingredients.
Three notes. I won't say any more.
Looking through the archives,
there is no fragrance that uses those three notes.
-After Diorama, it's...? -[Frédéric] Eau Fraîche.
-Very different. -Five or six years later.
Then it's Diorissimo.
This letter is insane, totally insane.
It drives me crazy.
But it has an emotional power that completely transcends me.
It overwhelms me too, it...
It is Dior's testament.
This letter is Monsieur Dior's dream. My dream is to make it a reality.
[soft upbeat music]
Subtitle translation: Elaine Scott Subtitling: Hiventy by TransPerfect