Edmond Roudnitaka has indeed demonstrated through his perfumes for Dior that "just a few elements are enough to create a considerable level and depth."

I tried this when I was fifteen years old - many, many moons ago - and fell in love with it. Did I also mention I'm a guy. Et voila, the Dior-themed chypres have garnered hall of fame status that is until Dior Dior. Then the market went cold and astray preferring the stormy orientals. From '76, and from the great nose Edmond Roudnitska, at the height of the 70's with it's special interest in saving the earth, green peace and earthy chypre fragrances for both men and women, Dior Dior is a ravishing concoction of fall florals and autumn woods. This is classic French perfumery at it's finest. Although it's simpler and more linear as a chypre floral than say Balmain's Vent Vert, or Ivoire de Balmain, it has more in common with Aliage by Estee Lauder. The spray bottle is quite antique looking and attractively vintage. My friend's mother in Ermenonville outside of Paris had this in her collection. I took a whiff of it and asked my girlfriend Lysette whom I have been spending time with during Paris Fashion Week, if she knew where in Paris I could find it and buy it. She had one in her own collection which she had not been using and she presented it to me as a gift. This is some gift. There is a breathtaking moment when the white florals turn to green notes of moss and then woodsy that it smells like a French forest, and the soapiness and elegance of this scent is enchanting. It evokes Belle from Beauty and the Beast. All it needed was that single rose she asked her merchant father for, the rose that cost so dearly when he stole it from the Beast's castle garden. A gorgeous autumnal perfume. I can now understand why the vintage fragrance is so much praised - after a disappointing blind buy of the new version, I eventually felt brave enough to buy a vintage bottle. Mirth! vitality! Elegant jump. Sweet melon green, that salty taste will guide people to a better entrance. The "New look" of the perfume industry comes from the traditional Dior. Chanel cristalle side by side Diorella, which comes from the Edmond Roudnitska I admire.

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That's how it originally came about, this fragrance from the house of Christian Dior: boxes and flacons with the "belly bands" in the differently colored pattern, were immediately recognizable.

Diorella is concise and powerful, and this style points to a modern one, away from the so-called classical form. Young cristalle are cold, young Diorellas are gentle, and their relationships are close, but often opposing from different angles.By the way, the modern one is harsh on what I think is a cilantro accord made by amping up melon, basil and lemons. It does retain the dreamy and languid quality the vintage imparts in feel but nothing beats the first iteration. It is interesting but not to die for, a nice cologne with some "animalic" notes that could probably be sexy under some circumstances. I clearly assign the color green to Diorella, but it is a much brighter green than Dioressence. Diorella is more delicate, more delicate and much less opulent than Dioressence. I think Diorella needs a little bit higher temperatures to show to advantage. On a cold winter day like today, the fragrance might get a bit lost. Diorella is absolutely not obtrusive, so it is very suitable for the office and for leisure time as well. The durability is very good for a rather light scent, 6-7 hours are in it, after 2 hours it becomes very close but still well perceptible.

Diorella has been debittered and cheered up, so to speak, and you notice that right from the start. Where Eau Sauvage starts off rather tart, Diorella starts off sunnier and friendlier, missing the tangy and spicy ingredients, which were replaced by undefined green notes and a touch of melon. If you compare the scent pyramids, you will find some similarities, from the citric start to the mossy base. I do not know if this is going to ban me from Fragrantica, but in my opinion this Diorella resembles the original Cristalle (which I bought the same day it came out) more than the reformulated Cristalle is close to her ancestor. Same complexity, same crispness, same angularity. The not-so-large cyclamen in their leafy nests, slightly hidden among the bushes, don't want to bloom in obscurity. So they send their special fragrance and also immediately a first hint of earth: and thus become a harbinger of vetiver.

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A week or so ago I agreed to swap a few perfumes that did not get enough love from me for a big bottle of Diorella. As a lover of vintage fumes, I was really happy to add it to my collection, the more so that my lovely swap partner informed me that it is from 2007. In the meantime, being an impatient, curious being, I tried it in perfumeries, and wore the recent EDT for two days. I was ever so slightly disappointed, I didn't quiet get the hype, the "milestone in perfumery", Roudnitska's masterpiece, etc. references. Nice, slightly bitter fruity chypre, where is the exciting Vietnamese beef salad (Tania Sanchez), the nearly rotting fruit, the muskiness? DIORELLA gives the impression of a summer day in a green meadow, especially a day spent around a pond, with its olfactory qualities of cool water, algae, water plants, and even of rotting pond scum. DIORELLA is famous for its fruit notes which smell so ripe, they almost smell rotten... but always leavened with crisp clean notes of lemon, lime and fresh grassy notes. Roudnitska's perfume seems to say, "In the midst of life, there is also decay". Burn your bra and wear DIORELLA. Unless you happen to be 36C, in which case I highly recommend that you keep the bra and wear DIORELLA. In any case, whatever your beliefs about appropriate displays of women's liberation might be, I encourage all of you, men and women alike, to wear DIORELLA! This fragrance is greener, with more of an aggressive bite. It's beautiful, dry and even a tad smoky. This newer version of Diorella is almost blasphemy. The old Diorella is an all-season fragrance, with enough warmth and depth to be enjoyed during the colder months too.

I do try not to get obsessed with Dior Dior. I was very eager to try it, acquired my infinitesimally tiny bottle, and found that I like it very much (quelle surprise!). I tell myself that I have some excellent alternatives, in large quantity, all very beautiful. Of course, if a larger bottle of Dior Dior appeared for me, I would snatch it up with both hands immediately! Every day I went to Galaries Lafayettes to spray on just a little bit. It wasn't available in London and it was quite expensive but it just smelled expensive and gorgeous. I actually sniffed my way through the scents of Dior and my favourite was definitely "Diorella". I didn't buy it then (it was too expensive for me), but I got samples again and again, until one day I got it as a present. Over the years I lost sight of Diorella, there were too many other exciting scents. Very much later it ran me then again over the way and moved in meanwhile as a permanent companion again with me.

Dior-Dior with autumn charm has the most distinct salty fragrance in Diorella, the top notes are lost due to the aging of the liquid, leaving only a nostalgic bottom note.