Dior Beauty: The Most Worshipped Rose and Its Lucky Star

For some, any form of worship can be seen as a sense of trust in what is bigger than us, or for others, trusting in something outside of ourselves, such as lucky charms, could be just as powerful. We have, as humans, also worshipped trees and plants since ancient times, and even now, flowers like the Rose are seen as lucky omens in love and beauty. The fashion Designer Christian Dior carried a collection of lucky charms, flowers and talismans, including a sprig of Lily of the Valley, which he believed brought good fortune and helped him manage anxiety. Flowers were also in his heart and helped inspire the bright light of his first couture post-war collection. Rose Star is the latest beautifully considered scent from the house of Dior Beauty, expressed by Francis Kurkdjian, Perfume Creation Director, Dior Beauty. Meet it here in Dior: The Most Worshipped Rose and Its Lucky Star.

The lights were turned back on when Christian Dior’s iconic New Look emerged in 1947, after years of wartime austerity, masculine working clothes, hard shoulders and drab fabrics.

His collection for women saw a return to seduction, romance, and a sensuous fragility which he referred to as “Femme Fleurs” (flower women); the bright lights returning after the darkness of the war, the collection, full of joy and modernity

For the French couturier Monsieur Dior, flowers held a special place in his heart. The Rose was far more than a natural bloom. In many respects, it held huge importance in his creative world.

“After women, flowers are the most lovely thing God has given the world.”

Christian Dior

But the flower reference didn’t come out of nowhere. Granville Garden, his family home in Granville, Normandy, was his childhood playground, and he adored his mother’s Rose Beds in the family’s garden.

His enduring love for the Rose continued to influence his couture, accessories, and even high jewellery collections, with the flower’s petals and fragrance serving as a constant source of inspiration throughout his career and beyond.

Yet alongside a love rooted in the natural world, this grand man of couture also had a penchant for the ‘other side’. He met a fortune teller for the first time at the tender age of 14. The palm reader told him that he would suffer poverty at times, but would eventually succeed through women, who would be lucky for him.

On finding a metal five-pointed star charm on the street in Paris in 1946, he took it as a providential sign to establish his couture house and his “lucky star” became a treasured talisman he carried throughout his career

Interestingly, the Rose has been seen by many as its own talisman for love, romance and weddings, alongside other plants and trees that have been worshipped since ancient times. TheRose has shown up as references in not just shihouettes, but in his fabric, jewellery and in many of his perfume creations.

Christian Dior Parfums

The latest juice from the house explores both his love of this majestic flower and his belief in all things superstitious. Meet Rose Star.

Within the La Collection Privée, the Rose Dior Couture collection is dedicated to this ephemeral and regal bloom. The collection already includes the Bois de Rose, Rose Dior Bagatelle and Rose Dior Pré Catelan, but the newest Rose completes this mythical universe.

The fragrance melds two timeless distinctions of the house: the Centifolia Rose and his found five-point guiding star, a symbol that is still omnipresent at the heart of the House.

Rose Star is a unisex floral and ambery scent. This is a perfume realised, not just from the exploration of the regal Rose, but almost looking as if the Rose has recreated its shape into five points; each point an angle to explore the multifaceted bloom.

The first notes of this juice bring in almost contradictory facets; the bright sharpness of Lemon, the juicy the gentle, soft, fruity water of pear, and vibrantly spicy, via Sichuan pepper, which also manages to echo back fresh, citrusy elements of the other opening notes, and never forget a Rose has thorns so expect a tiny hit of something slightly dark and dangerous here too.

Secondly comes the very heart of this elixir: Rose Centiflora. This is one of only two Roses used in perfumery, with this the more dewy green of the two ( Damask Rose, rich, warm, and spicy, notes). Rose de Mai, as it is also known, is a multifaceted flower allowing perfumers to explore, as Monsieur Kurdijan has done here, all the points of reference available within it.

There is a dewy freshness, a light, fruity, watery freshness (partly due to being picked early in the morning) to this flower, alongside greenness that brings a lightness, and also finds soft, sweet, and honeyed points with an almost waxy edge. Because this floral note is complex, each part of this blossom has been echoed from the top of the scent and through to its base. Think of the Rose here as the ‘heart-star’ with brightness radiating outwards. This is perfume in the hands of a master who understands the power of each element of this most prized flower.

The ending, the trail left if you like, is equally a mirror not just to all the parts of the flower but as a scented painting of the flower and the symbolism behind it for the House of Dior. Honey and Musk made in an accord brings a rich yet soft powder that exposes the real qualities of the flower, leaving the softest trail of spice, sweetness, waxy and earthy richness with hints of lemony spice.

“Christian Dior was passionate about the Centifolia rose, and the House of Dior decided to follow his dreams by growing hectares of it in Provence. Using this olfactory exhilaration as a starting point, I wanted to do something symbolic and overlay it with the silhouette of Christian Dior’s lucky star.”

Francis Kurkdjian, Perfume Creation Director, Dior Beauty

So this perfume with its five facets that unfold like the five points of Christian Dior’s lucky star. It’s an unexpected olfactory silhouette that blends sweet, zesty-fruity notes with the spiciness of Sichuan pepper, florals with honey musk, giving three facets, but what of the fourth and fifth?

The fourth is clearly the unexpected take on the Rose in perfumery. For so long, undervalued as old-fashioned and powdery, grandma perfume, but here it’s the modernity of it that brings a refreshing new angle. How this flower sits with spice, green citrus and honey for an unusual exploration and a flourish of a finish.

As for the fifth and final point, think of the feeling of the rose petal. Its velvety skin brushes you as you touch the layered head. A soft thrill of the plush petals against flesh, the human flesh and the flesh of the flower, leaving the most gentle hint of powdery beauty. The finest gauze-like silk scarf of a scent wraps softly around the neck. A gentle, emotive stroke that only a great fragrance can bring. After all, don’t our favourite perfumes bring a sense of emotional excitement with them? This luxury unisex scent creates a new destiny, whispered yet bold; very much notes of slightly dark, mystical, creative love.

As real as a flower growing naturally in the earth and as mystical as a tarot reader or a lucky charm, duality meets here in the scented bottle. Once sprayed, allow yourself to be wrapped in magical Rose alongside powerful good luck and fabulous destiny.

La Collection Privée Christian Dior Rose Star is now available at Dior.com

If you enjoyed reading Dior: The Most Worshipped Rose and Its Lucky Star, then why not read Design Meets Emotion Here

.Cent Magazine London; Luxury Minded