Miss Dior Couture Edition (2011): Re-Reformulation {New Fragrance}

miss_dior_couture_edition.jpgDior have launched a new, limited edition of a perfume which they call Miss Dior Couture Edition. The confusing part can be felt over the choice of the name of the fragrance.

"Miss Dior" designates the original green leather chypre from 1947, which is still available today. The look of the" flacon on the other hand, with its palette of nude pinks, seems to be a reference to the new-generation "Miss Dior Chérie." Either there was a printing mistake on the label or the brand is playing an obscure branding strategy...

 

In the end what does the jus itself tell us? Well, it certainly has nothing to do with the post-WWII "Miss Dior" by Paul Vacher and everything to do with "Miss Dior Chérie" by Christine Nagel.

Smelling them side by side gave the impression that the "Miss Dior Couture Edition" was closer to the original formulation of the 2005 perfume. It smells more substantive, lusher, jammier. "Miss Dior Chérie Eau de Parfum" smells thinner in comparison. The latter was officially modified in 2011 by François Demachy. Miss Dior Couture Edition is, it seems, a going-back to the roots of the fragrance.

Let's compare the notes:

Miss Dior Chérie edp 2005 by Christine Nagel

Top: pineapple, cherry, strawberry, mandarin
Heart: popcorn, caramel, jasmine, rose, violet
Base: patchouli, musk, amber


Miss Dior Cherie edp 2011 by François Demachy

Top: sparkling citruses, mandarin, orange
Heart: Rose Damascena, intense jasmine
Base notes: Patchouli, Vetiver, Sandalwood, Moss, Amber.

Whether Dior wants to test the market with a re-reformulated jus remains to be seen. They have been quite consistently working towards improving their formulas by trial and error under new IFRA regulations.

As an article published in Le Monde on the 28th of May 2011 indicated, LVMH was trying to gain greater control over their perfume formulations by taking over - in the case of Miss Dior Chérie - from Givaudan. Rather than opting for a subtle change which is enough to appropriate yourself the paternity of a perfume formulation in a culture which is very permissive regarding copyrights, Demachy had elected to be more of a game-changer. It looks like customers might not want the perfume to play such a different tune and that Dior might be testing the subtler approach. 

Of the two, I would get the Couture Edition.

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2 Comments | Leave a comment

  1. it was also mentioned somewhere that Miss Dior Cherie would be renamed simply 'Miss Dior', while the original would be named 'Miss Dior Original'.

    if you look around for some recent promotion material, you'll see that a lot of the images with Natalie Portman these days say 'Miss Dior', omitting the 'Cherie'.

    Q
    • Thank you for your remark. I haven't seen these images. I see that sometimes the ads are cropped. But I still happen on the ads with Portman which have "Miss Dior Chérie" on them. It's true that the word "Chérie" is in small print though.

      Chant Wagner

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