Re-creating an icon is, by definition, a challenge. Doing it for one of the world’s best-known fashion houses after stepping into the shoes of a prominent predecessor could well make the task daunting.
But when I meet Dior’s new perfume creator, Francis Kurkdjian, at the Hotel Le Majestic in Cannes while it’s fizzing with A-listers for the film festival, he seems to have taken the project in his stride.
“I applaud François Demachy,” says Kurkdjian of his predecessor. “He was the first perfumer to work in-house at Dior Parfums [and] the work he’s accomplished is
