"And you? What would you do for love?" ~Miss Dior

CREDIT: PARFUMS CHRISTIAN DIOR

PARFUMS CHRISTIAN DIOR

As the face of Christian Dior’s Miss Dior fragrance since 2010, Natalie Portman has worked alongside all four of its most recent creative directors and says that now, under the influence of the first female in the role, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the house celebrates women and femininity more than ever. And the new Miss Dior, a reworking of the now-70-year-old original, is the olfactory manifestation of that approach.

“Dior has always been at the forefront of showcasing the different sides of women. I think now more than ever, there is a connection between the modern women and Dior,” she explains. “I see it reflected in the duality of the fragrance. While the perfume has sweet, soft, and loving notes, it also has deep, earthy undertones that represent the different facets of the modern woman. We can be both elegant and strong.”

CREDIT: PARFUMS CHRISTIAN DIOR

PARFUMS CHRISTIAN DIOR

The new campaign, set to the sounds of Sia’s Chandelier, sees Portman play a Miss Dior very much in love – with all of the passion and drama that that brings. At the end she faces up to the camera and addresses the viewer: “And you, what would you do for love?”

CREDIT: VOGUE

“I would go to the end of the earth for love!” Portman said, when asked for her own answer to that question, saying her favourite love story of all is “my own, with my husband”, Benjamin Millepied, with whom she has two young children.

“I think this fragrance really presents a more rebellious side of love. It shows all the different aspects of love - the passion and the tenderness and the joy and the ferocity… Miss Dior has always symbolised a strong and confident woman and I think this campaign in particular illustrates that side of her.”And for Portman, working with Dior sees a teenage dream realised, whilst her relationship with fragrance started even earlier.

“I remember as a teenager thinking everything about Dior was so chic,” she says. “I was given a bottle of perfume when I worked on The Professional by Jean Reno and I thought it was so incredibly special. I never wanted it to run out.”