A couple of days ago I was idling some time away on the Dior website, watching the new ad promoting Miss Dior Cherie, now fronted by Natalie Thingamajig who was in that ballet film that I didn’t see.
I snapped to attention towards the end of the ad. The concluding voice-over and on-screen graphic called the perfume ‘Miss Dior’, not ‘Miss Dior Cherie’. The label on the bottle clearly says ‘Miss Dior Cherie’, but, as I started to scramble around the rest of the site, I saw that what we know and, in my case hate, as the strawberry patchouli fragrance ‘Miss Dior Cherie’, was often (but not always) referred to just as ‘Miss Dior’. For example, go here.
I went to the ‘Les Creations de Monsieur Dior’ section, where they keep their old stuff, but Miss Dior – the 1947 classic chypre – was NOT THERE.
So I emailed Dior. Has the 1947 Miss Dior been discontinued? I got a very prompt and courteous response but all it did was refer me to LVMH’s office in Australia. I emailed them. No reply. They have had two business days to reply, and maybe that’s not enough, but still …
Could it be? Could they have taken Miss Dior off the market? I know that many people are disappointed with recent reformulation/s – Luca Turin is scathing and gives MD just three stars – but I have both an 80s/90s mini and a 2008 FB, and find the the 2008 quite wearable.
Coincidentally, I have just picked up very cheaply on eBay a whopping 112 ml bottle of vintage Miss Dior which is about half full. So okay, I have a lifetime supply of vintage and modern.
But the thought that it cannot be bought any more feels so wrong. Does Dior think that they can just delete a perfume that has been loved by generations of strong, intelligent sexy women, and transfer its name to a completely different perfume, and we won’t notice?
I was going to rant on and on, but I’ll stop. Perhaps my tired eyes are missing something on the website. Or perhaps it’s just a temporary halt in production, or something. I’ll keep you posted, if I get a reply.
beauty on the outside 
I’m appalled!!! I started wearing Miss Dior when I was still in my teens and I wore that and Chanel no. 5 exclusively for years and years. I have so many memories and so much personal history attached to that fragrance that I become all melancholy thinking about it.
I bought a full (new) bottle last year and it wasn’t at first sniff entirely how I remembered it, but I’ll be sure to wear it very soon to test it again. Vintage might be the way to go.
Although I belong to the shameless group of people who actually like to wear MDC now and again (I’ve started spraying it in unscented body lotion – that curbs the sweetness and brings out the spice), I don’t not want MDC to become MD – that is not right! No. No. No. The two don’t not belong in the same category. At all. Hrmmmmfff.
That’s a good tip about the MDC lotion. I might give that a shot, thanks.
MDC is regarded as a good fragrance of its kind, so I’m trying to be careful with what I say as I don’t want to hurt or annoy anyone. It’s just not my kind of fragrance, and it si completely different to the original Miss D. (I seem to remember something about its formula having already been tweaked noticeably. Maybe Octavian mentionied it on 1000 Fragrances … can’t remember.)
Mr. H and I were just talking about this—the ‘retirement’ of beloved, important, fragrances. I was telling him my fears about Bvlgari Black being discontinued (that’s his rabbit-hole scent), and I asked him, “but what about artistic integrity?” which made him laugh. I guess it really is about the dollar, and which fragrances sell the most.
We all know that designers use perfume profits to fund their… less profitable adventures, but perfume is art, and a great fragrance shouldn’t be thrown under the bus. I mean, it’s not like you have to make it available at every counter in the world—there’s nothing wrong with limited distribution; but to pull something completely? Oh gods.
😦
Yes, it is all about the dollar. A house like Dior might keep an old classic going, even if it loses money, just so that it has something to peg its historic reputation on. But ultimately there will come a time when some accountant is going to pull the plug, even on limited distribution.
I’m still trying not to foam at the mouth. As I say, there could be some reasonable explanation …
Somehow, I wish I could say that I’m completely surprised, but then again – I’m not, and especially where Miss Dior is concerned. I could extend that to several other great, late Diors, but let’s not go there, OK? It will end in tears…
Like it was for you, Miss Dior is one of my own Great Immortals. My Second Coming of Age Perfume…(the first, of course, being Jicky). So important, so unique, and so, so special – for any occasion, for elegant occasions, for dalliances in haylofts and summer parties on the beach and even my first ever punk concert…Miss Dior was with me.
I realized something was up when it became increasingly hard to find even in Copenhagen’s biggest department store, that always carried everything Dior. They would happily drench me in Miss Dior Chèrie – which is not entirely bad but nowhere Miss Dior – but the Real Deal was not to be had. I came across MD in EdT last fall, and it was irrevocably changed – a ghost of itself. LVMH murdered her, and didn’t even bother to bury her properly.
But they did it to so many others, too, among them my all-time favorite Dior – Dioressence. And Jules. And. And I can’t find any vintage Dior anything at a price I can afford.
I don’t think it’s so much a question of artistry – or the lack thereof – as it’s a watering down of a heritage – and a kowtow to the Almighty Malevolent Marketing Brief. Fruity! Floral! Candy! Young! Yes! (And you will hear me scream right about now…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Yes…let’s murder everything great about Parfums Dior except the name – and even that is no longer what it was when Miss Dior is a strawberry popcorn soda pop – instead of the bitchy, witchy, wonderful woman she once was.
– T, getting off the soapbox before she blows a gasket…
Tareiso, what a life! Dalliances in hay lofts … parties on the beach … Miss Dior at a punk concert. What style and attitude you have! I’ve spent these years hunched in libraries and archives. Maybe I’ve lived my other life through great perfumes!
That is grim news about MD not being available to you locally. Id better swing through my local mall soon to check.
That’s terrible! I have a mini from the 80’s that I will treasure now.
You can pick up the vinatge stuff on eBay, but it’s not always cheap, so you have to lurk for a bargain. If MD really does go off the market, prices for vintage will go up, so start lurking!
Hi Annemarie-
just stumbled upon this blog, and you scared the living daylights out of me already! So i just checked out the dior site, and i can assure you that the original Miss Dior is still listed… there is this feature on the site right below the line-up of fragrances and fragrances items, and then when you drag the line all the way to the right (sorry i cannot explain better) there she is: extrait de parfum and eau de toilette, even the diortendre body lotion. Honest! i am not sure if i can post a url but here it is anyway http://www.dior.com/beauty/int/en/fragrance/womenfragrance/miss_dior/missdiorsbl/y0082001/py0082001.html
hope you feel better now! cheers, Wendy
Ah! You are right! Hurrah! Looking, in that bottle, as beautiful as ever.
But you know, I looked at the screen earlier in the week thinking that Miss Dior must be over to the right, and it wasn’t there. And that bar thing that you can slide wasn’t there – I was looking for a feature like that. I reckon it was a little glitch in the site which has been corrected. I’m sure they won’t admit it!
So: panic over folks. I’m still think they way the two perfumes are presented on the site is going to lead to confusion …
Overcome by yearning for the the MD of my past I’ve browsed through ebay.uk and there were several options, but I’m wondering if there’s anything I should be aware of or looking out for in particular when buying vintage, MD or otherwise? I haven’t bought vintage before, so I don’t really know anything about the potential pitfalls. Thank you 🙂
I suddenly remebered what the MD bottles of my youth looked like: Black and white checkered pattern – oooohhh, nostalgia attack!
Hi Marie, yes, the black and white bottles are the ones that are ‘vintage’ although there could have been another design before that, which a bit of research might dig up. Somewhere, on someone’s blog there is a VERY useful guide to vintage Diorissimo bottles. If I can find it I will post it here. Not the same perfume, but often fragrance houses sell different perfumes in the same bottles so you might pick something up.
Some of the pitfalls are the same as any sort of buying on eBay. General rules apply: watch plenty of sales before you buy; pay attention to the feedback; and if someone has not supplied good clear photos, I usually don’t bother with them. Also, I rarely spend much money on perfume on eBay (in one sale). I only take small risks. I’ve never had any real trouble.
There seem to still be plenty of those 10 ml minis of Miss Dior that Dior used to sell (not sure if these were part of gift sets and promotions, or sold alone). So maybe you could start with one of these. I’ve had some bargains: I got a 10 ml mini of Diorella for about $20 Australian (about the same in US $) including shipping, and the Miss Dior I mention in the above post was even better – US $17.50 including shipping. In both cases they came from sellers who don’t usually sell perfume (jewellery, knick-knicks) and so they seem not to have been aware of the value of what they were selling. Although why the vintage Dior nerds did not notice these sales is a mystery; there were no other bids than mine.
But – with eBay you can lucky. There are so many sales and sellers, you can sometimes fly under the radar. Etsy, by contrast, always seems expensive, but there are fewer sellers and the ones there are seem much cannier and more aware of values. I’ve only ever bought one thing, an empty Diorella bottle that I will put in my lounge room for decoration. Got that for three pounds!
The large (112 ml) bottle of MD has not arrived but I do fear that it may have turned (started to go off) quite a lot. Such a large bottle is going to sit on someone’s dressing table for ages, you would think, and be exposed to light, and to the skin of the previous wearer (it’s a dab on). That’s another reason to go for smaller bottles. Over time the top notes of old perfume do get damaged but usually, after a few minutes, the real scent emerges, beautiful as ever. I have only had one bottle that seems genuinely, irretrievably off.
Finally (not about vintage so much now), look out for unwanted gifts on eBay. You can really score with those.
Hi Annemarie
Thank you so much for your advice – this is very helpful 🙂
Incidentally, I saw a 200 ml bottle of MD on ebay selling for more than 200 pounds – aaah, I think not 😉 10 ml seems to be the wiser choice.
Marie
hi all. That blog Annemarie was talking about that talks about how to date your Dior bottles (which title always throws me a little… date a Dior bottle? why sure, should be fun..uh..oh..right, other type of dating…) is Perfumeshrine. this is the link:
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2009/05/frequent-questions-ho-do-i-date-my.html
cheers,Wendy
Oh yes, that is the very one. Thanks Wendy! I’d date a Dior bottle any day.
In fact – confession time – sometimes while I’m watching TV or reading by myself, I put a treasured perfume on the table nearby, just for a refreshing glance every now and again. I have done this with Chanel No 5, and Miss Dior. There, I have no more secrets.
I have on more than one occasion done something very similar to that – and when I feel particularly stressed I’ll often go and take a good sniff of one or another of my all time favorites. I find perfume so comforting in many ways. And on days that I know will be really stressful I will bring the bottle in my purse – eventhough I have decanted several already to travel lighter on an everyday basis – and feel it or take a look at it every once in a while. It reassures me and reminds me that there is more than the present stressful moment.
Interesting us both doing this kind of thing. Makes me think that bottles do matter. I mean, like many perfumistas, my collection is becoming more dominated by decants and samples and not FBs. But you would never take a comforting peek at a decant, would you?
update: have a look at this Grain de Musk link regarding — amongst others – Miss Dior: http://graindemusc.blogspot.com/2011/06/lvmh-repatriates-miss-dior-ex-cherie.html You were absolutely right, something weird IS going on! Apparently Miss Dior is now called “classic”, whereas Miss Dior Chérie is now…. Miss Dior. Huh?
Oh my lord, so THAT’s what’s going on. Very clever, very disrespectful. It explains the stealthy name change of Misss Dior Cherie to just Miss Dior, and why that perfume has been reformulated.
Also, in the future as I swing by my Dior counters I can expect to see something called ‘Miss Dior Original’,
That lack of respect also explains why I never had a reply to my email to LVMH Australia. They are doing what they are doing, and don’t feel the need to explain .
Many thanks for the link wendy!
This is horrible!! I bought what I thought was my beloved Miss Dior Cherie only to realize that it smells nothing like it should. I can’t even wear it I had to return in. I am so upset. It was my most, absolute favorite. How can this happen! =( thank you for the info!! Very good to know
This has all become quite a hot topic. Perfume Shrine did quite a long piece on it earlier this year, which you may find helpful:
http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/chronology-comparison-photos-of-miss.html
Thanks for your comment, and sorry for the demsie of your beloved!