This year, Raf Simons had a vision: A girl walks out of a floral universe and makes our entire world blossom. Today, that dream came to life, as Dior literally built a mountain of bluebells that its audience and models walked through en route to the spring 2016 catwalk. Sound spectacular? It was, especially since the giant blooming peak was installed in the middle of the Louvre's palace courtyard. Seriously.
Here's how they did it: Landscape artist Eric Chauvin—who grows and tests his concepts on an organic farm outside of Paris—spent 18 days culling enough delphinium blossoms and soil to create the biodynamic set. (If you want to see his other creations, visit his atelier in the 7th arrondissement.)
It took over 300 hours of manual labor to plant the flowers—over 400,000 of them—in 2000 square meters (which is 21,527 square feet) of real organic soil.
And just like the dream that inspired it, the flower world will vanish overnight—though much of it will be relocated to Dior's ultra-exclusive atelier, where clients like Jennifer Lawrence can enjoy the blooms (and the clothes) up close.
