Christian Dior has appointed Francis Kurkdjian as its new creative director, succeeding François Demachy as he retires, reports CR Fashion Week.
Kurkdjian will also remain artistic director of his own Maison Francis Kurkdijan, which he co-founded in 2009 with Marc Chaya and inaugurating him to prominence as a boundary-pushing fragrance artist.
Following Demachy’s revisiting of heritage fragrances J’Adore and Miss Dior and success with Dior Sauvage as the top-selling cologne in the world, Kurkdjian excites the maison with his transcending visionary approach to perfume. At only 25, Kurkdjian created his first mens fragrance for Jean-Paul Gaultier called Le Male, launching his career, and opened his own fragrance atelier in 2001. He embarked on his first artistic collaboration that same year with Sophie Calle who tapped him to compose L’odeur de l’argent, “the smell of money,” and granted him freedom to create with no restriction. The perfumer went on to work with Burberry and Calvin Klein, as well as olfactory exhibits and performances at opulent venues such as The Grand Palais and The Château De Versailles.
In 2008, Cosmétique Magazine awarded him “Best Perfumer” among several international fragrance honors, as well as being named Knight of Arts and Letters, a title given by the French government for distinguished creativity and influence in the field of art, culture, and literature. Kurkdjian became known for his striking scents at Christian Dior, for which he contributed Eue Noire and Cologne Blanche for La Collection Privee, Dior’s line of lifestyle fragrance.
Laurent Klietman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Parfums Christian Dior announces Kurkdjian as a “visionary perfumer and a passionate artist who brings his full creative energies, savoir-faire, and exacting professionalism to Dior Perfumes, crafting future Dior fragrances that will conquer the world,” where he’s anchored in a heritage of bold creative initiatives and use of exceptional flowers.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to join Parfums Christian Dior, a maison with a richly inspiring history and resolutely future-facing creative spirit. I am delighted to share my vision through my fragrance creations,” said Kurkdjian, adding that “working at Maison Dior while continuing to create for my own maison is a great privilege.”
“I want to sincerely thank Bernard Arnault for renewing his confidence in me as part of LVMH, and I extend my warm thanks to Claude Martines, Stéphanie Medioni, Laurent Kleitman and Marc Chaya for their Support. On a more personal level, I think madly of my mother watching over me,” he added.
