Christian Dior on the upper terrace of La Colle Noire in 1957
not everyone knows that Christian Dior he worked as a gallery owner between 1929 and 1934. Or that he represented a group of painters known as the 'Grasse group'. The same soft Mediterranean light that caught the Dadaists jean arp Y Sophie Tauber in the south of ** France ** anchored the couturier's heart to this region, far from the rainy Normandy of his birth.
But also, in a special way, the aroma. That of a perfect microclimate and a privileged geographical position, between the lush forest and the coast, an explosion of nature that fueled the designer's dream.
Upper terrace of La Colle Noire today.
Dior wanted to fulfill his Provençal fantasy in La Colle Noire , which he acquired in 1951 at Montaroux , in the middle of the territory of Grasse and the country of Fayence, just forty kilometers from Cannes. And we have fulfilled that of going into this château that belonged to and inspired the creator of the New Look.
Today only five of the fifty hectares that the Norman acquired, born in 1905 in Granville , who, having changed the course of fashion history in 1947 with her famous ‘flower-woman’ silhouette (wasp waist, corolla skirt), began to turn to bucolic-inspired embroideries and a natural and simple aesthetic, "without being cold", as he said, that was intertwined with the feelings that the area aroused in him.
In fact, he kept his love for this land since he served as a refuge for his family after the crash of 29. He also lived in the area during the Occupation, as did his sister katherine , who sought happiness there by growing roses after surviving a concentration camp.
“I would like this to be my real home. In which, if God gives me a long life, he can retire, ”he wrote in his memoir. “In which I can close the circle of my existence and rediscover, under another climate, the secret garden that protected my childhood. In which I will finally be able to live in peace, forgetting Christian Dior to return to being simply Christian”.
Christian Dior's office in La Colle Noire.
He himself lovingly planted l he imposing cypresses that welcome us at the entrance, and he ordered the construction of a pond more than forty meters long, the fruit of his Versailles obsession. He planned to plant hundreds of almond trees, more than thirty cherry trees, vineyards, olive trees and fruit trees. But, above all, jasmine, rose Y lavender.
He wanted perfumes to match his garments and here the first one was born, Miss Dior , “of those nights of Provence crossed by fireflies, where the green jasmine serves as a counterpoint to the melody of the night and the earth”.
Then would come Diorama (1949), Eau Fraîche (1953) and Diorissimo (1956), all reflections of the search for an aesthetic and existential ideal.
Dior had already made contact in his youth with Grasse, one of the centers of the perfume world since the 18th century. The fur trade and the fashion of tanning and perfuming them changed his history. This Catherine de Medici, that she was captivated by the aroma of leather gloves, to whom the fame of this place is attributed, but the weakness of Marie Antoinette and from his official perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon, for floral fragrances, he also promoted the local production of centifolia roses.
Facade of La Colle Noire.
"Although this variety is grown in other parts of the world, the aroma is never the same, due to the qualities of the terroir”, explains Carole Biancalana. she directs Le Domaine de Manon , a family business that has reserved all of its harvests for the Dior house for a decade, as well as the nearby Le Clos de Callian.
The curious come to photograph this pink Eden that we have the privilege of contemplating in full bloom, organically grown. The roses are harvested daily from May to June, manually, when the rose bushes are three years old.
Catherine Dior in the garden of Les Nayssés, around 1950. This house belonged to Marthe, her nanny, and was near La Colle Noire.
“It's important that people know what's in a jar,” Carole stresses. Biancalana had an instant affinity with Francois Demachy , nose of the house, "a person as sensitive to the world of flowers as Christian Dior himself, who loved jasmine, lavender, daffodil... He was a gardener who loved being in contact with nature”.
Gardener who, for the walls of his bucolic château, she entrusted to the architect André Svetchine, whose work at the Auberge de the Colombe d'Or , the legendary establishment of Saint Paul de Vence that they adored picasso Y I look had caught his attention.
Saint Paul de Vence.
In this coquettish town, which preserves much of its charm intact, we savor a trip back in time through the exquisite treatment of this hotel-restaurant, where some of the greatest artists (Braque, Chagall...) paid for their accommodation with works of art. The lady who greets us tells us about her father and how much Dior loved her belle-mère (her mother-in-law).
“He loved the land, he loved the people”, Lucienne Rostagno, a former employee at the gardens of La Colle Noire, said of him. He gave the children of the service chocolate eggs at Easter and books like Miguel Strogoff or The Last Days of Pompeii.
He was loved by the locals, to whom he provided jobs, running water and a telephone line. He restored the chapel of Saint Barthélemy and donated it to the Commune of Montaroux , on the condition that they take care of maintaining it, perhaps in an attempt to counteract the ephemeral nature of an industry that was weighing more and more on it.
Much furniture from his sister's house in Callian was recovered at auction and is now in this magnificent mansion. , arranged with all the comforts as a hotel (there are even hair dryers!), despite the fact that they assure us that this has not happened and will not happen.
Hubert and Carole Biancalana, father and daughter, at Le Domaine de Manon.
Flashes of the past return only during the course of confidential events around the fragrances of the house, which recovered the château in 2013 after having passed through different hands since 1958. A curiosity: the Oasis album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was recorded within these walls.
Luckily it was very well preserved and, based on precious historical material, every detail of the decoration devised by the couturier was reproduced. Thus, today we walk among Bergeres Louis XV armchairs and porcelain planters Wedgewood.
Christian Dior with his friends Jacques Benita, Marguerite Carré and Raymond Zehnacker, on a terrace in Saint Tropez.
From a molding, a star presides over its small Louis XV bed, lacquered in gray and with an alcove upholstered in velvet. It is the memory of that other brass that the superstitious Dior found on the street and that served as a signal to launch his first collection.
It was also his amulet lily of the valley , present in the wallpaper and motif that he sewed on the lining of some dresses (don't you remember the couturier from The Invisible Thread?). No perfume can be extracted from this 'mute' flower, but he managed to reproduce it with essential oils.
Although some rooms are only a hypothesis of how he would have arranged them, others –such as the spectacular bathroom, with a marble bathtub, copper sink and swan-neck taps– They tell us about an elegant, sensitive man who loves cooking, where he used to start the day discussing the menu with his chef, Georges Huilliero . He even created new sauces and a book of compelling recipes such as oeufs poches montrouge or crêpes fourrées de mousse de saumon. It is not unreasonable to think that this gastronomic passion could have had something to do with his premature disappearance at the age of 52.
View at Le Lavandou.
He died unexpectedly in 1957, but the echo of his splendid evenings, held in services for twelve, not one more, still echoes here!
They were attended, among others, by Madame Raymonde Zehnacker , her right hand and whom she referred to as "my other self"; the writer and illustrator Maurice Van Moppes ; the painters Bernard Buffet Y Marc Chagall ; the photographer lord snowdon or the wife of Aimé Maeght, Marguerite Maeght , patrons and creators of the homonymous foundation in Saint-Paul.
in the streets of Saint-Tropez , where Dior succumbed to candied mandarins ** Café Sénéquier **, it is now hard to find the glamor that this group of art lovers must have perceived (and generated). At least at first glance.
Surely, the boat trips that the designer was able to take around the island of Porquerolles with friends like the fashion illustrator René Gruau (who lived in Cannes), Marie Blanche de Polignac, daughter of Jeanne Lanvin, the patron Paul Louis Weiler or the writer Jean Cocteau had another flavor in times a.I. (before Instagram).
Christian Dior photographed by Lord Snowdon at La Colle Noire, in 1957.
But it is still easy to guess the reason for his devotion to this land, especially in his encounter with the sea. In the seaside town of Le Lavandou , where the collector Jacques Homberg lived, we spotted, perched on the rock, the imposing skeleton of the hotel Les Roches , which was frequented by Dior himself, Churchill or Françoise Sagan and today is in the process of total reconstruction. And we imagine with delight the endless conversations in the cubist house of Marie Laure de Noailles, refuge in Hyeres of the cultural avant-garde conceived by this member of the literary association El Félibrige.
We climb the slope that leads to the small cemetery of Callian , at the highest point of this leafy city at more than 300 meters of altitude. It is not easy to distinguish the discreet tomb that Dior shares with his caretaker, 'Ma' Lefebvre.
Next to them lies his sister Catherine, decorated with the Legion of Honor. Few ornaments, beyond the perfumed Provencal air, mark the place where this exceptional creator rests forever.
***** _This report was published in **number 120 of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (September)**. Subscribe to the printed edition (11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website). The September issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your preferred device. _
Dior's grave in Callian.