Niche line Le Labo will be holding a series of creative workshops in London with “synesthetic provocateur” Nicola Pozzani:
Le Labo Synesthetic Series is a series of 5 syneshetic workshops about perfume…
Dior Illustrated: Rene Gruau and the Line of Beauty ~ exhibit in London
About the author: Nina is our guest shopper for London. She’s on the road this weekend, so will be slow to respond to comments.
Once upon a time, print ads for Christian Dior perfumes consisted of beautiful illustrations, rather than photos of Jude Law.
If you love those illustrations, then you’re a fan of René Gruau, who drew them all.
Somerset House in London is currently hosting an exhibition of most of Gruau’s original artwork for the House of Dior, including several drawings that were never used. It’s a joyful insight into the shared vision of Gruau and Christian Dior, who were close friends as well as colleagues.
Dior and Gruau (it’s pronounced Grooh-oh) were both illustrators when they met on the fashion desk of Le Figaro in 1936. They seem to have taken to each other at once, coming from similar bourgeois backgrounds, with the same wistful attraction to the memory of Belle Epoque elegance.
When Dior launched his New Look in early 1947, he asked Gruau to illustrate his designs. Launching Miss Dior, his first perfume, later that same year, Dior called on Gruau again. “Do exactly what you want,” he said. “We speak the same language.”
It became one of the most fruitful relationships in the history of illustration. In fact, so successful was Gruau’s work for Dior, he continued to illustrate for Christian Dior Perfumes for over twenty years after Dior’s death in 1957. His last work was the 1984 campaign for Jules, for which the company had originally commissioned photographers; inspired by the challenge, Gruau produced a series of illustrations anyway, and the company were so impressed, they used his work rather than the commissioned photos….
Ormonde Jayne in Chelsea ~ shopping for perfume in London
Ormonde Jayne fans will be pleased to know that there’s a new standalone Ormonde Jayne shop in Chelsea, just off Sloane Square. The new shop is much bigger than the tiny space in the Royal Arcade, which means that more goodies are on display, rather than tucked away in drawers.
The new flagship store, swimming beautifully in smoked mirror glass, offers the chance to sit down and have your Perfume Portrait created for you…
L’Artisan Parfumeur in Covent Garden ~ shopping for perfume in London
Over the last year or so, L’Artisan Parfumeur have been gradually closing down their standalone stores in London. There are no longer stores in Marylebone High Street or Royal Exchange, and the third store in Cale Street will soon go too, I learned. Presumably this is linked to the fact that L’Artisan is now stocked by SpaceNK, which gives them a broader distribution without the overhead of London premises.
However, there is still one L’Artisan shop still in London for now — the newish store in Covent Garden. It’s in the space left vacant by the demise of B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful, or rather in the upper half of that space — the space is shared with another business that gets the intriguing caverned cellar downstairs…
Dior Illustrated ~ new exhibit in London
Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty is a new exhibit scheduled to open at London’s Somerset House on 10 November…