Fresh from their collaboration at the 2021 Salone del Mobile – where India Mahdavi was among 17 creatives to reinterpret the Dior ‘Medallion’ chair – the designer and the fashion house have come together once again, to reimagine another iconic Dior object.
This time, Mahdavi has applied her singular eye to Dior’s J'adore perfume amphora. First launched in 1999, the peculiar J’adore bottle design has always made it stand out among its counterparts on the perfume shelf. An almost-teardrop shape with a gold-ribbed neck, the original J’adore bottle recalls both the vases of Greek antiquity and the cinched-waist silhouettes of Dior’s revolutionary New Look (an ever-present inspiration, right down to Dior make-up).
India Mahdavi J’adore bottle in the making
Mahdavi’s design maintains the basic structure of the J'adore bottle, but with a literal new twist. The run of 1,000 bottles has been crafted by master glassmakers in Murano, Venice, to have a hypnotic, twister-like composition.
The final bottle design is an object of exquisite craftsmanship – handblown, hand polished, and finished off with a delicate application of gold paint. It expresses the most emblematic characteristics of Murano artisanship.
The ‘temptress amphora’, as Dior calls it, is meant to reflect the sensual nature of J'adore perfume itself. The fragrance is a mixture of centifolia rose, sambac jasmine and ylang-ylang, accented by notes of creamy sandalwood and a burst of bright tuberose.
It is ‘sensual without being too heavy’, says perfumer François Demachy. ‘It is a composition that brings opposites together, that makes iconic floral notes into an alluring, unique and mysterious ensemble. J’adore invents a flower that doesn't exist, an ideal.’
Adds Mahdavi, ‘When you hear “J’adore”, you think of the eponymous perfume. But let us not forget the phrase’s initial meaning: it is a cry from the heart – the cry of an emotion, when faced with something that appeals to all of our senses, seduces us, and carries us away.’
Her limited-edition bottle design is fittingly sensual.
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