Diorama by Christian Dior, 1949

I just received the 2, 1/4 ounce each bottles of vintage Diorama EDT that I won on Ebay and I can say that every review that I read about it that describes it somewhere between Vintage Rochas Femme, Diorella, Miss Dior and Mitsouko, are pretty much right on target. This, or what I can smell of it, has aspects of all 4 of the scents I've listed. The problem with vintage Diorella in this concentration is that it is very weak sillage-wise and you have to bury your nose in your wrist to smell it ( I've experienced that same problem with Diorissimo EDT, anyone else?). However, what I do smell is absolutely beautiful in it's own special way and even though it has echos of the previously mentioned scents. smelling this leaves me longing to stumble upon a bottle of the vintage pure parfum to get the real Diorama experience. And even though the new re-formulation has received some good reviews, I want to experience it in all of it's real oakmossy goodness, because it's definitely in here. I have to say that even in its weekness, I like it better than all the scents mentioned above, with the exception of Mitsouko, which Diorama is equal too in my book, and could surpass on my top 25 list if I ever get my hands on that bottle of vintage pure parfum!

(This review is for the re-issued EdT and not the vintage Diorama).

This is very Routnitska in every possible way. Unfortunately I only smelled the vintage Diorama briefly, so I can't comment or compare on the differences between the vintage and the current version. I understand why reviewers have described this as 'buttery' because of its richness. Overall, it comes off like Diorella on steroids. Specifically, if you took the melon/peach top notes of Diorella, quadrupled the amount of fruit, and then let the fruit get to the point of just being overripe, you'd have the topnotes of Diorama. Likewise with the floral notes. The strength of fruit and floral notes overpower any woody or herbal notes that may be present (which I assume they are, given the fragrances depth, but they aren't clearly discernible), and the effect of this richness is to give the overall fragrance a 'butter' feel. It's almost too intense at first, but dries into an incredibly well balanced, classic fruity/floral.

By today's standards Diorama is on the slightly feminine side of unisex and could easily be worn by a guy. I liked my sample so much I arranged for a bottle purchase from Paris, and it's one of the highlights of my collection.