The Diorissimo Poster: Lily of the Valley in a 1980s Image

Perfume is invisible, and its advertising has always had to make it seen. This small glossy photographic poster from the 1980s does that for Diorissimo, one of the best-known fragrances in the history of Christian Dior, created thirty years earlier around the scent of lily of the valley.

Diorissimo

Diorissimo was launched in 1956 and composed by the perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. Lily of the valley gives no natural essence that can be extracted, so its scent has to be reconstructed. Accounts of the perfume describe how Roudnitska studied the flower closely in his garden at Cabris, above Grasse, before composing the fragrance. Dior's own description today calls it a masterpiece of perfumery that captures the olfactory essence of lily of the valley.

Dior's flower

Lily of the valley had a particular meaning for Christian Dior. The house describes it as his lucky charm and the emblem of his couture house.

A perfume built on that flower was tied to the founder's own symbols, and it remained part of the house's range long after his death in 1957.

The poster

The poster is a glossy photographic print measuring 26 by 27 centimetres, an almost square format. The listing dates it to the 1980s. Images of this kind, made to promote a fragrance in shops or in print, record how a house chose to present its perfumes at a particular moment.

The object

The Archivary describes the piece as a collectable 1980s Christian Dior Diorissimo perfume glossy photographic poster, measuring 26 by 27 centimetres, in very good vintage condition.