Dior’s High Jewelry: A Miniature Fairy Tale World

Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane did it again.

Since her arrival at the brand 25 years ago, the designer has succeeded in shaping a consistent style and a comprehensive collection of fine jewels in sync with the couture brand and founder Christian Dior’s universe and inspirations, including his love of gardens — and of roses in particular.

This season, de Castellane and Dior’s artisans created a mesmerizing collection of a miniature, dreamy and fairy tale-like world of flora and fauna for the Diorama and Diorigami collections, unveiled in Florence with a fashion show in the courtyard of the cloister of the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella.

The location was fitting, with its stunning frescoes under the arches, and Dior recreated a lush garden that would have made Monsieur Dior happy. The models, wearing 25 outfits created for the occasion by Maria Grazia Chiuri, artistic director of women’s haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections, wove around the flower shrubs and plants to a soundtrack by Brian Eno chosen by de Castellane. Guests sipped Ruinart Champagne on cushioned patio seats to take in the show after dinner.

The collection took about two years to be completed and, throughout, “Florence and the Renaissance emerged as the best venue” to present it, said de Castellane during a preview interview at another stunning location, the Belmond Hotel Villa San Michele, where the jewels could be seen up close.

And this collection in particular deserved closer inspection. De Castellane brought to life landscapes and animals in an imaginary and enchanted, fairy tale-like Milly-la-Forêt, a town of floral gardens near Paris loved by the couturier.

Diorama is a pun on the name of the brand but also defines a miniature three-dimensional scene, where figurines are arranged against a background. She reinterpreted the toile de Jouy print, which decorated the walls of the historic Dior Colifichets boutique in 1947, for the very figurative Diorama collection.