miss dior fait son grand palais

*WARNING*
This was supposed to be published in November. We're in February now. Just so you know. Wait... sorry? Didn't get what you said. Oh, you don't care? Okay.

***

After one tedious post about a first fashion exhibit in Paris, here comes the second post.

The day I went out scouting for the Musée Galliera in Paris, I took a few wrong turns, (actually the wrong métro stop) and ended up gliding past the Assemblée Générale (and the clusters of journalists/people awaiting *insert question mark here because I don't know what/who it was they were waiting for*), trying to look as parisienne as possible (but failing, thanks to my impossibly Lebanese nose and bum) eventually walking down a street that led me straight to the Grand Palais.

It was cold. Paris was big.

Then I saw a familiar face.

The Miss Dior perfume bottle.

You see I'd caught the ad here and there: The Miss Dior perfume bottle was to have its very own exhibit. I thought to myself: "It's quite cold, the Musée Galliera is obviously still far away, there's this fabulous-looking huge white Dior bottle peeking outside of the (open, by the way) doors of the Grand Palais. And I'm in Paris! Reason dictated I should go in, and up the stairs I walked, confident as a peacock.
Three minutes later, confusion settled in. It was followed by some blank head turning, seeing busy people working around the huge white Miss Dior bottle with nobody actually bothering to usher me in. I intelligently concluded that something was fishy. And fishy it was! I was visiting the exhibit on the 12th of November, when in fact the opening day was the 13th of November! Those same posters that first lured me into the exhibit were my saviors, because it was off of them that I read the date of my deliverance from what indeed could have a been a very awkward, embarrassing and unfashionable moment.

So out I walked, head held high, throwing off some *I'm-so-cool* vibes (with inexorable *I-almost-made-a-total-fool-out-of-myself* vibes laying naturally underneath) and – mildly dejected – continued my search for the Alaia exhibit.

Now the next day, sure of my information and my now-uncanny sense of orientation, I took the right itinerary which led me straight to the Palais. This time, it was open, heavens be blessed. People were walking in and out of it. Outside, the sun shone, the tourists' cameras shone, and my eyes, too, they shone. I climbed up a spiral staircase and was finally faced with the beautiful 1947 "Miss Dior" dress with intricate, delicate flower detail. I felt right at home*. Or rather, I longed to feel right at home.

The exhibit in general took to documenting the beginning of the perfume bottle, including sketches and older designs, contemporary interpretations or embodiments of the Miss Dior spirit, in art installations created by fifteen female artists (one of which turned out to be a Beirut-born multimedia artist living in Cairo!). Beautiful vintage dresses were spread here and there, (among which figured this gem, the "Bar Suit," modeled here by the up-and-coming Marge Simpson), and when you climbed another set of stairs which led you to the mezzanine, you could see artwork by Mr Dior's not-so-little-known friends, among which figured Giacometti, Man Ray, Dali, Picasso, Ernst, etc.

It was, in short, the entire story of how the perfume came into existence and what it has become today.
Minor detail: The original muse behind the iconic Miss Dior perfume was none other than Christian Dior's sister, Catherine. She was the inspiration behind the iconic perfume, which was born in 1947, I believe (I don't believe, it's written right there in the little catalogue that they gave out.)

I took my time, walking slowly and perusing every little detail up close. I found the evolution of the bottle design, which went from what we now refer to as "vintage" to the modern day Miss Dior bottle, quite interesting to look at. On the other hand, you didn't get the chance to see a tailor-made Dior dress worn by Natalie Portman everyday! And because photos were allowed, yours truly turned into a despicable tourist. I began to manically photograph every little hem, every little sketch, every little detail up-close. I just really wanted to post them on the blog! (I'm true to my word, scroll down!)

Note from February 2014: Now, I ignore what November Sarah had intentionally wanted to write in this post. So I'm leaving you with the bits I found/stitched together from November. I'm two months too late. But lalala cliché comes your way in the form of: Better late than never. And hey, you get to see the pictures!

Another note from February: I get the bothersome feeling that this post only scratches the surface. But that's ok. Sometimes images speak better than words. (Someone shake the cliché out of me. Please.)





Made entirely out of J'adore (think Charlize Theron in golden glory) bottles!

















Miss Portman's dress! She's not a miss anymore though. 




There you have it!
Enjoy the pictures, and look forward to more enchanting posts by me. (I said look forward to, not expect. Is that the same thing?)

February Sarah.

*Nope. Nope I did not. I felt right outside, the outsider that was desperate to blend in. I felt like someone was going to accost me with: Your boots need shining. What are you doing here? This is Dior for heaven's sake, farmer's market is not this way. But nobody did. Goodness gracious.

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