Dior’s Floral Mountain at the Louvre for Paris Fashion Week
At first, everyone thought this was just another pre-event construction typical of the days leading up to Paris Fashion Week. Three weeks later, with a team of 100 florists working around the clock, 400,000 stalks of blue Delphinium flowers and 40 tons of sawed lawn, it was done.
60 metres wide and 59 foot high man-made hill covered in gleaming blue sat on Cour Carrée, the oldest courtyard at the Louvre. For the sake of sheer flawlessness, flower-shaped spotlights were mounted inside construction. The stage was set for an amazing Dior's Spring-Summer 2016 fashion show.
Alexandre de Betak and Celebrated Parisian floral designer Eric Chauvin were the men given the enormous task of bringing to life this awe-inspiring vision by Raf Simons, Christian Dior’s Creative Director since 2012.
“It’s not about crazy and gigantic; these are his (Raf Simon’s) very impulsive and very personal ideas. And it all came very naturally.” said Alexandre de Betak who has overseen construction of Dior fashion show venues since Raf’s arrival. Alexandre has since 2013 worked with florist Eric Chauvin in creating the impressive set ups and awe-inspiring floral backdrops.
video below - courtesy DIOR
Video showing construction of the man-made hill
“The purple perennial beat out other options because it seemed more “believable,” de Betak was quoted in New York Times. “We wanted something that was impressive yet charming, and sometimes charming is simple.” But simple in this case might have taken a more intricately floral meaning... Dont you think?
