Miss Dior

Vintage Miss Dior EDT Cultivating style doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process, and there is a learning curve. I was in my twenties when I understood the value of the perfect red lipstick. Years later, I learned how to choose dresses that highlight my tiny waist and hourglass figure. Later, I discovered that elegant, well made shoes make my legs appear lengthier and that I had to pay more for shoes that didn’t destroy my feet. In time, you learn what works and doesn’t work on your body type. You learn to accentuate some things and to hide others. You learn how to honor your limits and still take chances. Thankfully, geniuses like Christian Dior, Lucien Lelong, and Robert Piguet not only understood the feminine aesthetic, but perfected it, and they brought that same discernment to the world of fragrance. Although I had collected, worn, and adored vintage fragrances from contemporaries of Dior – Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Chanel and Patou; and even though some of my true fragrance loves were made by those who trained Dior early in his career and helped him cultivate his iconic style, namely, Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong, I hesitated to wear Dior. I thought I was not ready for a couture fragrance made by the creator of the New Look - the iconic and impeccable style, the impossibly tiny waists, and the billowy elegant skirts were over my head. One doesn’t simply wake up and decide to wear couture one day, it’s a process. There is a Taoist saying that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. I could not have worn this beautiful complex fragrance early in life, as I would not have appreciated it. I could not have worn this fragrance before I knew about the complexities and nuances in fragrance. I could not have worn this fragrance without first knowing myself; without knowing what works and doesn’t work on me. Now, I’ve paid my dues, I’ve done the work. I am finally ready. Luckily, I listened to those who are experienced in such things and took my time to search out a vintage bottle of Miss Dior EDT with the hounds tooth design. My only mistake was testing it out in the summer first. Silly me! This is not a sand and surf fragrance, this is fur coats and scented gloves. I *almost* sold it to a fellow Fragrantican, but luckily, I listened to my intuition, and waited to test it again in cooler weather, and the rest is history. I understand that Dior owned an art gallery prior to opening his couture fashion house, which tells me that he knows how to make women feel like pieces of beautiful art. I know I certainly feel that way in this fragrance. Thank you, Dior.

Miss Dior - 1950’s edt splash reviewed. Miss Dior was born shortly after WW2, in a moment of devastation, shortages and despair. While the world was slowly picking itself up, Christian Dior launched the famous New Look Collection in a move of joyous optimism, to allow women to feel beautiful, strong, desired and independent. Miss Dior was the perfect first fragrance, an accessory more easily obtained than the more expensive haute couture. A fragrance full of joy, freshness, joie de vivre. The original incarnation is a beautifully elegant floral chypre, redolent of galbanum, aldehydes, white flowers, oakmoss and hidden animalic notes that lend a gorgeous parfum fourrure feel. The opening absolutely sings. Overcast dove grey skies, but not melancholic. Early spring. Fizzy aldehydes, galbanum, styrallyl acetate for the Gardenia rendition. A young fresh feel for all women, all ages. The scent of optimism. The heart starts to get a little darker. Among the flowers, rose, good luck lily of The Valley, Iris, carnation...voluptuous and spicy, with the discreet powderiness of Iris, to cast a veil of sensual femininity. At once, it smells expensive, debutant but mature; while the flowers and green notes denote elegance and good taste, a perfect first perfume for a young lady, there are hidden secrets ahead, making it perfect for a woman that is fierce willed and strong. Leather, buttery sandalwood, civet, most likely ambergris, costus root, nitromusks...notes that don’t scream but instead envelop the fragrance in a bouquet of luxury and naughtiness; silk underwear under a perfectly tailored suit. The desire to be loved, longed for, without being vulgar. The warmth that emanates from the skin is glorious. Hard to pinpoint notes, it simply sings. A masterpiece. Under the guidance of Christian, Paul Vacher and Jean Carles created one of the most beautiful fragrances of the era, and one of the most memorable masterpieces of the last century. As if the green floralcy of Ma Griffe and the sexual potency of Tabu had a baby, Miss Dior had the pedigree of the house that saw her to life. Elegant, sensual, powerful. The original has a wonderful tenacity on skin, and a potent sillage that becomes more languid as the day progresses. Easily worn by men, Miss Dior is simply put, an ode to joy and love and life. Not to be confused with anything bearing the name today; Miss Dior remained integral up until the late 80’s/early 90’s. Ages well, if you find intact bottles on eBay, they are a good investment. What is currently sold by that name is nothing but a sad joke.

Miss Dior: a tale of two (or three) bottles -- My first Miss Dior bottle was a beautiful hounds-tooth frosted glass splash bottle I received as a gift in the 1990s, and it was my first expensive fragrance. I loved it and wore it till the last drop as my "good perfume" (not the every day one). My mother would occasionally borrow it too. The bottle got empty, my skin condition got worse and I mostly stopped wearing perfume. We kept the empty bottle. I gave my mother a mini with a similar bottle I found for sale. My second Miss Dior bottle was an old (judging by the lot number, 1981) travel splash bottle with the black and white cap and label that I found for sale online, with the beautiful juice I remembered. Leather, oakmoss, woods, resins and flowers, heady and yellow, strong, willful, almost powdery but not quite, elegant but sharp, difficult to describe to whoever did not experience it. I must remember to some day compare it to Dioressence, as while Miss Dior is more elegant, perhaps a little powdery in an older way, it shares Dioressence's soul of "I can take on the world". I decanted its juice into the first, prettier splash bottle, and kept the second one, open and mostly empty, in my woolen clothes drawer. My third Miss Dior bottle, I got it today. I saw it online, asked for pictures of the box and bottle, marked with the lot number, certified myself that the numbers match, that the bottle and cap and nozzle look as they should, that it is a real one. And it is. One of the later bottles, 2011, still marked "Miss Dior", so probably from the last batch just before the "Miss Dior Originale". It's a spray bottle, hounds-tooth frosted glass, tall bottle. I sprayed, carefully, expectant to see if it's the same. And it is, clearly. It's a little less sharp, the notes seem to have a different balance, a little more orris, a little less resin, and you have to apply a little more (which is easy with a spray bottle). But it's clearly the same fragrance. Still projects a lot, still lasts for hours on end (maybe 12 or 14 instead of 24, I think), still makes me feel myself, but standing taller, stronger. The splash bottle will be for slow, deliberate, sensual application, for myself, with time. The spray bottle will make it easier to choose to wear this perfume in the morning if I so decide, as it is more forgiving in a quick application. Miss Dior will go back into my perfume rotation even when I am going fast in the morning. I will sleep happy today.

I've been wearing Miss Dior on and off since 2002. I have half a bottle left that I purchased about then, and I have another half bottle of a much older vintage that belonged to the mother of a friend of mine. I've always thought MD was a glorious perfume, and despite the name, not at all limited to the young. My 2003 bottle is rich with aldehydes, it's spicy, balsamic, and powdery in turn. The older bottle I have is even more glorious, with full-bodied oakmoss, deeply powdery green aldehydes, lily of the valley, iris, and a leather undertone that's heady and almost intimidating. The dry down is breathtaking; it lasts all day. Just for the hell of it, I got a sample of the new Miss Dior the other day, because I enjoy comparing new and old vintages. This was one was an utter shock. If I had not seen the juice go in the bottle, I would assume a mistake had been made, because the new MD is totally unrecognizable. In a blind test, I would never have been able to make the connection. All I smelled was greenish gardenia, and jellybean sweetness. It was so awful I couldn't leave it alone, the way you can't stop eating "just one more bite!" of something ghastly. I had the old on my right wrist and the new on my left, and when I woke up this morning I discovered that traces of each lingered on the cuffs of my sweatshirt. On the morning after I could finally smell a suggestion of kinship. Not a pleasant one. My right side smelled like the morning after a party, and my left smelled like the morning after a fire in a shanty town. I mean that surprisingly literally: I could smell something like the cold bowl of a burned out pipe. But hey: intimations of leftover leather in both, and at a very big stretch, I could imagine leather from the same tanner. If I were being generous. If you want to wear Miss Dior, for God's sake, find it one ebay. I will go back when I have some time and get another tester of the new stuff, just in case this juice had turned, but holy cats. If this is really what the House of Dior is doing with its time and resources today, we should all lose their phone number as quickly as possible.

I worked at the Christian Dior counter as a manager for almost three years between 2008-2011. I have a bottle of Miss Dior Esprit De Parfum that has a batch code from 2007. It was a tester bottle,which we had been sent in to demonstrate Miss Dior EDT before it's 2011 reform. I would often acquire testers as incentives for making targets ect. I don't see any page to review this version, which is a shame because it single handedly sparked my intense passion for complex vintage mossy scents. This fragrance is a full bodied mossy green floral that starts off with a burst of lemony glabanam. Then softens (after at least 3 hours) in to an alurring white floral jasmine, lily of the valley and rose. Ending with a fully loaded base rich with oakmoss, veitiver and patchouli. I wore this fragrance to see my grandfather in the hospital before he passed away in 2010. The staff were none to pleased by my choice of such a forceful scent. ( I wore Tuscany Per Donna by Estée Lauder to my Grandmother's death bed four years later and no one was offended, lesson learned). I also experimented with ketamine in order to totally and full experienced this complex jem, as some of you might know it really heightens your olfactory senses. It was quite the trip twisting and turning as each layer unfolded. It was like walking through a bright sunny green feild into a deep mossy forest but at the tree line is a bed of lush flowers you have to meander through. I don't think you can buy this formulation, I'm not sure you ever could in Canada where I live. So I do feel blessed to own my little bottle. I wear it in very early spring when the snow is mealting and the first green grass is poking out. It will linger with you on your coats and scarves for the rest of the season, so for me in really embodies early spring ( feb-early April). If anyone knows anything about this formulation please write a review and enlighten me. Nov 14 2017