Words Celia Donoghue
Iconic couturier and perfumer Christian Dior introduced his first perfume, Miss Dior, in 1947. He asked his perfumer, Paul Vacher, to create ‘a collection that smells like love’. This unique fragrance, a floral chypre with leather and galbanum notes, has stood the test of time and remains a staple of the Dior fragrance brand.
Along with his New Look couture collection, Christian Dior was celebrating femininity and beauty after the austerity of the war years in Occupied France (1940–44). The perfume’s name came about by chance when his sister, Catherine, entered the room during a meeting and was greeted by Dior’s muse, Mitzah Bricard, with, ‘Ah voilà, Miss Dior’. It was a fitting tribute from brother to sister, evoking memories of their happy childhood before the war left deep scars on them both.
Christian and Catherine were born into a wealthy family; their father, Maurice, was a successful businessman. The family’s primary residence was in Granville, Normandy, where their mother, Madeleine, whom Catherine described as ‘a remarkable botanist’, designed the grounds to create an English-style garden. Over time, it was filled with rare and exotic plants, as well as a wonderful rose garden. They also spent time in Paris, where they owned an apartment in the wealthy 16th arrondissement of the city.
There were five children, but Christian always had a special bond with Catherine, who was the youngest and twelve years his junior. She was thirteen when the family business suffered financial collapse due to failed real estate ventures and the economic downturn following the Wall Street Crash.
They moved to a dilapidated farmhouse in Provence where Catherine worked tirelessly to transform the grounds, filling them with lush roses and fragrant jasmine. Later, she moved to Paris to work, staying with Christian, who was trying to establish himself as a fashion designer. When the Second World War broke out, they returned to Provence, where Catherine promptly switched from growing flowers to vegetables, which she and Christian sold at the market in Cannes.
Catherine’s world changed one day in late 1941. Charles de Gaulle was in exile and she wanted to hear his speeches from London. Going to buy a radio in Cannes, she met Hervé des Charbonneries, a passionate member of the French Resistance. He was married, with children, but they fell in love and she joined the Resistance F2 network, taking the code name Caro.
She returned to Paris with Hervé and they lived with Christian. Catherine often cycled around the city, dispatching messages and gathering information on behalf of the Allies, even acting as a decoy for Resistance operations. The risks were huge and she was captured in July 1944 when her network was infiltrated.
For the next ten months, she was sent to various work camps, including the Ravensbrück women’s prison. The conditions were appalling – many died there from starvation, illness or brutality.
Christian was in despair, desperate for news. He heard his sister was interrogated and tortured and endlessly tried to find her, appealing to diplomats, even a clairvoyant. Meanwhile, he worked for Lucien Lelong’s fashion house, designing dresses for wealthy women that included Nazi wives.
By April 1945, Catherine was in a camp near Leipzig. As the Allies approached, the Nazis evacuated prisoners by sending them on the infamous ‘death marches’. Somehow Catherine managed to escape and finally made her way back to Paris at the end of May 1945. Christian was there to meet her at the train station but barely recognised his sister as her head had been shaved and she was so emaciated.
Catherine’s love of flowers helped rejuvenate her spirit, and she became a familiar sight in the early mornings at Les Halles market in central Paris, often accompanied by Hervé. She was one of the few women ever to obtain a government licence to act as a ‘Mandataire en fleurs coupées’ or ‘cut-flowers broker’. She never wrote a memoir about her ordeals, but years later testified against her torturers.
She was awarded several medals of honour for her bravery including the Legion of Honour, the Croix de Guerre, normally reserved for regular soldiers; the King’s Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom; and the Cross of the Resistance Volunteer Combatant.
Christian too got a new lease of life. Supported by the wealthy textile tycoon, Marcel Boussac, he set up his own couture house. His first collection was unveiled, to great excitement, in February 1947. It was extraordinarily successful and was christened the ‘New Look’ on the spot by Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar.
The Miss Dior fragrance has stood the test of time and remains a staple of the Dior fragrance brand.
The fashion world was entranced by the new distinctive silhouette designed to celebrate femininity. It featured a fitted, nipped-in waist, a rounded, soft-shouldered jacket, and a full, voluminous skirt that fell below the knee, creating an hourglass shape. The style created a sense of elegance and opulence, contrasting sharply with the austere styles of the wartime era. Christian wrote about his creations: ‘I turned them into flowers, with soft shoulders, blooming bosoms, waists slim as vine stems, and skirts opening up like blossoms.’ And of course, the Miss Dior fragrance was essential to the collection.
Catherine herself never mixed in the exotic fashion world; she loved the simplicity of her flowers and avoided the limelight. After Christian died, aged only 52, she and Hervé moved back to the farmhouse in Provence and both lived to a ripe old age. The Spring 2020 Dior collection was dedicated to Catherine, including a bag named the ‘Caro’.
Justine Picardie’s recent book, Miss Dior: A Wartime Story of Courage and Couture, belatedly tells the story of Christian Dior’s brave, unassuming and much-loved little sister.
- ‘Miss Dior: The Resistance hero behind the iconic scent’ is published in Anthology Volume 22. Read more features from this volume or buy it now.
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