The brand cultivates its own flowers too, with seven Dior Gardens across the globe
The late Christian Dior once said: “After women, flowers are the most divine creatures.” This illustrates the affection the couturier has for flowers, which Dior environmental and scientific communication director Edouard Mauvais-Jarvis confirms are “part of the patrimony of the [brand] from the beginning”.
Not only has the brand incorporated flowers into its designs, the active ingredients are also included in the formulations of nearly all of its skincare products. In fact, the very first Dior Skincare products infused with floral extracts were created in 1967 with the Lait au Magnolia cleanser and Lotion Rose toner.
“Flowers have a huge advantage over us. They are rich with more than 1.2 billion years of evolution—they are the most evolved part of the vegetal world,” says Mauvais-Jarvis, affirming Dior’s belief in the power of flowers despite the fact that many ingredients can be created in a lab. He adds that the daily exposure to environmental aggressors such as climate changes, intense UV or oxidative potential of the atmosphere, have resulted in plants developing “an extremely rich biodiversity of molecules, such as antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, made to defend their structures and their capacity to reproduce against all these aggressions”.
(Related: Dior Makeup's Peter Philips Reveals Why The Brand's New Lipsticks Are Infused With Flower Oil)