At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Dior Fêted a New J’adore Fragrance

As New York Fashion Week kicked into full gear, friends of Dior gathered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a special celebration. Here, president and CEO of Parfums Christian Dior Veronique Courtois, Dior perfume creation director Francis Kurkdjian, and sculptor Jean-Michel Othoniel welcomed guests to experience the new L’Or de J’adore fragrance the Dior way.

“Christian Dior had a true love for flowers as a kid,” says Kurkdjian, who composed the just-debuted scent. “J’adore basically is truly the incarnation of [his] love because [it] is a floral bouquet.” Perhaps the scent is so acclaimed years after its launch in 1999 because of its depth; you might notice a different flower with each sniff. When it came time for him to reinterpret the iconic aroma, he went back to the original story and simplified its facets. The result? The balanced blend of orange blossom, jasmine grandiflorum, and centifolia rose absolute that is L’Or de J’adore.

As gardens are so central to Dior’s ethos, having a perfume-inspired fête in the garden was a no-brainer—brought to life, in part, by Othoniel’s “The Flowers of Hypnosis” exhibition of six works inspired by J’adore. The sculptor—who, like Dior, is inspired by gardens—saw this as an opportunity to support art and expand its audience. “I think beauty is important because it’s a way to connect with art—it’s something we need now to have more air,” he says. “I want people [visiting] to take a big breath [before] going back to reality.” The exhibition is on view until October 22.

As the sun set on a beautiful late-summer evening, the event began with cocktails on the garden’s Lily Pool Terrace, where several of Othoniel’s sculptures were positioned in the ponds. Guests like Rachel Brosnahan, Natalia Dyer, KiKi Layne, Awkwafina, Carlacia Grant, Julianne Hough, Sofia Wylie, and Athena Calderone mixed and mingled among the nearly 400 guests—stopping only to take pictures of the artworks or sip glasses of Champagne.

The intimate dinner that followed served as another chance to experience Othoniel’s work. At the head of the table sat his Gold Rose, a bronze-cast, 24k-gold-plated limited-edition piece sculpted into a harmonic figure eight, inspired by a true rose. The tablescape was laid with Murano glass vases and lanterns. Kurkdjian added his touch through a special interpretation of L’Or de J’adore dispersing through gold tabletop fountains lined along the two tables. Safe to say, as guests feasted on a menu of striped bass and chocolate tarts, they were engulfed in the Dior world, orchestrated by Courtois, Kurkdjian, Othoniel, and longtime Dior Beauty ambassador Charlize Theron. When the actor first starred in the mid-aughts J’adore fragrance commercial, she did not anticipate their relationship lasting this long. “It’s been one of the greatest privileges of my life,” she admits. If the house can reimagine its acclaimed scent 25 years later, there’s no telling what it will do next.