Located in the Roppongi Museum in Tokyo, Miss Dior: Stories of a Miss is an exhibition surveying 78-years of history and creativity behind the iconic Miss Dior parfum, which debuted together with “The New Look” that propelled the House of Dior in 1946.
The story of Miss Dior unfolds in a journey through seven rooms, each revealing a different facet of Miss Dior.
Exhibition contents showcase not only the parfum and its ephemera, but also the various inspirations and collaborations responsible for its cultural impact. Contents range from archival artifacts to contemporary products, couture to ready-to-wear, historic originals to playful reproductions, referential artworks to artist renditions, classic illustrations to modern campaigns, to tell not one linear story, but many overlaid.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
Shohei Shigematsu, Partner, OMA: “Conceiving a space to experience something as immaterial as a scent was an interesting challenge, but Miss Dior represents a core identity of the Maison shaped by a multitude of stories behind the fragrance. To reflect the diverse contents, auras, and narratives, we designed the exhibition to reveal new perspectives of timeless iconographies and draw new threads across distinct themes. Significant motifs and inspirations are translated into surreal environments transporting viewers into the world of Miss Dior.”
Each environment is designed to reflect the multiplicity of the Miss Dior aura. Reverent history and fresh youthfulness are conveyed with exaggerated scales and vibrant colors. Elegant elements and strong shapes are conveyed through a diversity of materials and geometries.
“Miss Dior: Stories of a Miss” is like an “Avant Goût” (or sampler) of the exhibition to come. Miss Dior artifacts, reproductions, and objects are mounted in bespoke cases and displayed as a gallery wall. Each case follows the exact shape of the object it contains, emphasizing the unique forms, and highlighting the small scale of particular artifacts and projecting their distinct shapes beyond their physical size. Opposite the wall is an oversized reproduction of the latest Miss Dior perfume bottle, rotating 360 degrees and visible from outside of the museum.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
“Miss Dior by Eva Jospin” is a classical domed room, inspired by architectures like the Villa Giulia in Rome, constructed from intricately embroidered tapestries by Jospin, a French artist and long time friend of the House. In contrast to the whimsically large bottle in the previous room, here, a single vitrine at the center of the room draws attention to the intricate and precious special edition of the parfum designed by Jospin.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
“Fields of Flowers” introduces viewers to the five floral scents of the latest Miss Dior Parfum. Within the room, a single flower is abstracted and enlarged with drapes of undulating fabric layered into a curved form reminiscent of petaled floral shapes, or the meticulous construction of a couture skirt. Five individual niches are carved out of the “solid” room. Within each niche, a human scale atomizer in the shape of a flower bud allow visitors to smell a single immersive landscape floral note ingredient of the parfum.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
“Stories of a Miss” takes the Miss Dior signature bow, which adorns the neck of the perfume bottle, and unravels it across the linear room. The ribbon unfurls in a form reminiscent of the amphora shape of the original Miss Dior bottle, creating a continuous path that carve through cases related to the history of Miss Dior. Double-sided vitrines allow viewers to see objects from both front and back, facilitating new relationships, associations, and narrative frameworks across multiple themes.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
“Miss Dior: The Birth of Ready-to-Wear” features the eponymous collection launched in 1967 , the House of Dior’s first ready-to-wear line. The original illustrated graphic logo of the line is reproduced at various scales across a pixelated, geometric form in saturated colors. As a complementing to the curved forms of previous rooms, the room takes the form of the circle and dome and creates in an orthogonal, rectilinear shape with a central topography of plinths.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
“Dior Illustrated” is a display of works by René Gruau and Mats Gustafson, the first and the current House of Dior’s illustrators, respectively. The delicate works are recreated in life size prints, many for the first time, providing a close-up look of the handiwork and details. Prints by each artist are mounted on opposite walls lining a sinuous path.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
Inspired by the softness and weight of floor-to-ceiling curtains and drapery of both Gruau and Christian Dior’s studios, the walls are reimagined as “soft” undulating curtains but made of fiberglass to achieve a unique form.
“The Miss Dior Dream” is an excursion through an undulating landscape of key Miss Dior couture garments paired with artworks and specially designed perfume bottles. Each garment is displayed on an elevated washi-paper mound that enable eye-level views to one-of-a-kind pieces. Metallic walls and floors introduce a more contemporary material and creates subtle reflections of displays. Together with a ceiling of washi-paper “clouds, the immersive landscape becomes a dreamlike environment of romance, art, and nature.
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
Miss Dior is designed by OMA Partner Shohei Shigematsu, Associate Christy Cheng, Project Architect Jan Casimir, with a team at OMA New York. The project marks OMA/Shigematsu’s fourth collaboration (and second in Tokyo) with the House of Dior on its exhibition scenography.
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Press Release Courtesy ©OMA
Photography by Daici Ano, Courtesy Dior
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