DIOR vs CHANEL

When looking at the competitive market of the fashion industry, there are two names in the couture world which have battled it about for years and years: Chanel and Dior. These two are the giants of the couture world, and have such a targeted market, however, product placement and store placement are vital for this competitive market, having the best position within the market. This can be set up through the companies themselves, they choose exactly where they’d like a new store to be built, or is can be done by organisations such as John Lewis, Boots and Selfridges. 

When you walk into the fragrance section at Selfridges, first on your left you’ll find Dior, right at the door, and about 6 meters away you’ll see Chanel. This close placing of the leading brands is no coincidence. As I am interested in Dior, this was such an incredibly experience to be able to talk to the experts about the fragrances, and a chance to smell, touch, hold and get to grips with Diorissimo, which is such a magical smell. The two companies often find an overlap with the customers visiting, as they go to one first, then visit the other. Both are very sophisticated in look, and the colours are very monochrome to allow the products to speak for themselves. This is a perfect technique, as both brands are so well known, they can keep their publicity to a minimum and allow the products to speak the dream and the story behind the brand. 

Selfridges is the perfect place to find both Chanel and Dior, and both are such in-depth brands, but Dior, in my opinion, in this store has prime placement as you have to walk past the stand to get to Chanel; perfect for the competitive market.

DIORISSIMO – the reasoning behind the shape

Something that isn’t known by many is why the bottle changed shape so drastically from the first production of Diorissimo. However, when the product was re-branded within the collection Les Creations de Monsieur Dior, the company wanted to create something very personal, something unique which taught others about the life of Christian Dior. When Dior used to sketch, he had a very special chair which he sat in, a dark grey armchair with a white rim. It was where he sat, a duplicate of the one he had at home. Dior then made his models sit in the chair for inspiration when he wasn’t able to think of a new and inventive line. Because this was something that was very personal and known by all that worked with him, when the second bottle of Diorissimo was created, it was shaped as if to replicate the armchair.

The sturdy and solid shape of the bottle is to mirror the structure to the chair, and the round rim is the oval cushion which sits on the back of the chair. To the audience this is unknown, as it is simply a perfume bottle, and to them a fragrance, yet Dior created so much more than fragrances, the brand itself were, and still are very particular about the shapes and reasoning behind the products; which is why to this day, it is such a successful and solid business.

Dior – Addict

Dior Addict, is yet again, a very different perfume which has been created, yet the whole promotional aspect is very different again. The bottle itself is a very simple creation in shape and colour, however all of the promotion platforms have created a very unique look. The muted colours of the bottle and initial part of the advert are contracted against a very bold and dramatic second half – which is highlighted within the bottle title; addict. This can be a very beautiful thing, addiction, you can be addicted to someone as you’re so in love, or you can be addicted to something in a very negative way; and this is the narrative behind the perfume; you buy the dream of Dior, but you then want it, more and more, different smells and different bottles. It is such an incredibly subtle yet wonderful promotional aspect to Dior, each and every perfume has such an in-depth meaning behind it. The advert is so surreal and starts off as a traditional Dior advert, the big french house, yet once the model enters the mirror it is a completely different story, which is the same as addiction. The in-depth meaning is so thought out in this advert more than any other of Dior’s in my opinion, which is why it was such a hit with sales, and has helped to put Dior Addict on the map with in the fragrance industry. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkf07CI4rI