WHAT WOMEN WANT

THE HOUSE OF DIOR PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE FEMININE FORM BEDECKED IN EVENING SPLENDOUR OF THE GRAND BAL COLLECTION, FINDS

Dior’s Grand Bal collection pays tribute to the feminine form

Christian Dior said, “Deep in every heart slumbers a dream and the couturier knows it: every woman is a princess.” The House of Dior’s Grand Bal collection marks the designer’s fondness for the delight of evening balls. The Dior VIII Grand Bal collection, launched in 2011, is equipped with the “Dior Inverse” calibre whose functional oscillating weight, placed on the dial, reproduces the swirl of a ball gown. More than one day of machine programming is required to allow the setting of the complex shapes of oscillating weights. There is an extremely precise cut of ornamental stones ( 100th of a millimeter), long and delicate, which includes a risk of deformation of the weight or a risk of scratching the gold or the stone.

Every timepiece has its own unique range of colours, with various sparkling shades of pinks, oranges, greens, purples, yellows and blues, on weight, dial and bezel. With an oscillating weight made of ornamental stone petals and gold embroidered with precious stones, it depicts a flora reinterpretation. “Mr. Dior used to say that black and white may suffice, but why deprive ourselves of colour?" says Laurence Nicolas, president of Dior Timepieces. “That is why we are a brand that is based on the ultimate in femininity and joyfulness.” Nowhere is the use of colour in the design of Dior watches more obvious than in the one- of- a- kind Dior VIII Grand Bal Piece Unique collection of watches. Dior has produced three of these spectacular watches this year which are each decorated with between 20 and 25 different stones, seeking to emulate the colours of nature.