Credits: Matthieu Salvaing

In just a few years, Cordélia de Castellane has imprinted her decorative style on a number of emblematic Parisian places, from the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay to Maxim's, from Ladurée to Laurent, without forgetting her Coffee Flower Shop on rue du Bac, as well as Dior Maison and Baby Dior, for which she designs several collections each year. A discreet fairy of lavish parties, this self-taught woman guided above all by intuition is nevertheless anything but worldly: far from the Parisian salons, she prefers the tranquility of her house and her garden, both English and French, nestled near Chantilly, where she draws her greatest inspiration.

Abbey of Vaux de Cernay - Cordelia de Castellane

Autumn

I love this third season. Many dread its early nights, but I love this reassuring melancholy. Extremely homebody, I take advantage of it to spend time indoors, but it's also the season when I reinvent my garden. Every year, I have this apprehension mixed with excitement: will I change a few lines, what new varieties of tulips will I discover? These are simply gardener's questions. Superstitious, I never plan anything far in advance: booking a plane ticket for the summer already makes me hesitate, and thinking about the Christmas holidays gives me palpitations, barely at the end of September. Yet, the garden forces me to plan, which goes against my nature. Even if I were no longer here, I know the garden would continue to flourish... This year, I'm looking for the rarest and most extraordinary irises: a corner of the garden will be entirely dedicated to them. For now, it's still time for cosmos, dahlias, hydrangeas, sunflowers... They bloomed three weeks earlier than in other years. It's a garden in perpetual motion, and that's what fascinates me.

The “Fruit Basket” by Jan Van Brueghel

This still life, which I revisited a few months ago, inspires me deeply, like the paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries. Right now, great classicism speaks to me and feeds my imagination to create settings and compose tables. This painting by Jan Van Brueghel will also be one of the sources of inspiration for my next Christmas table at Dior. I am a self-confessed classicist! I love strolling through great museums, Jacquemart André, the Louvre... In my creative world, it is always History that guides me, so inspiration often comes from a discovery in a museum. At the moment the portraits of the Musée d'Orsay, for example, or the Met in New York, where I never fail to go, when I stay there, to explore the Impressionist galleries. I like to sit in the center of a room and watch, for hours on end, the Renoirs, the Monets, the Degas dancers... I am fascinated by these dancers, by the subtlety of the shades of pink, by everything that gesture and color can express.

Laurent - Cordelia de Castellane

Anna Karenina

I'm rereading this masterpiece by Tolstoy. I love Russian literature. My children had to choose certain books, and I thought, 'Oh, I'll reread it.' Reopening books I discovered at school or just after, with hindsight and life experience, is fascinating: each page reads differently. For three years, the classics have come back very strongly in my life, whereas before I was perhaps more inclined towards fantasy and eccentricity. Little by little, I'm refocusing a lot of things. In this novel, the heroine abandons her children to experience a great love. This freedom fascinates me. I am profoundly liberal on an individual level: I respect everyone's choice, whether or not it is in accordance with my values. Nevertheless, I don't see what could justify a mother abandoning her children. The maternal bond is universal, vital. And yet, this novel devours me: it explores this tension between passionate love and maternal love. The first time I read it, I didn't have children, and the tragedy escaped me. Today, I better question the complexity of this choice. At the time, we sometimes had to choose between duty and desire. Today, we no longer have to choose. The book remains moving in this historical context.

A moment of grace in Rome

I love life and cheerfulness. I like to arouse emotions in people. Throwing parties is about awakening the five senses... That's what gets me up in the morning: offering an emotion, even if it's not shared by everyone, it doesn't matter, the important thing is that it exists. One of my last private events was held in Rome, in an old palace with Italian-style hanging balconies. I had invited a very famous opera singer to perform "La Vie en Rose." All the guests, in long dresses and tuxedos, were arranged on the terraces, observing the scene in the courtyard. I had chosen to place the singer downstairs so that her voice would rise in the exceptional acoustics. Then the wedding couple went down into the courtyard, and the singer began to sing the song by Édith Piaf. The couple and their two little girls watched, amazed, and very quickly, the guests upstairs began to sing along. Ten minutes of pure grace: flowing dresses, illuminated faces, palpable emotion... We forgot everything else, all the horrors of the world, suspended in this moment of beauty.

Greed

I'm very greedy, and it's something I'm discovering over time. Before, I was mainly interested in creating the art of the table, without really thinking about what was put in it. But for a few years now, I've been working more and more with chefs. My son is one of them. And this world has become fascinating to me. Seeing these artists create plates that are as beautiful as they are delicious inspires me deeply. Today, my own creations sometimes even seem a little empty, if they aren't filled. The other day, my son prepared a scallop carpaccio presented as flowers on one of my plates, and immediately, I found my plate much more alive. I often collaborate with chefs for Dior or for restaurants, and this connection with cooking has opened a new dimension to my creativity. I used to be quite simple in my tastes, not very attentive to culinary subtleties. But now I understand that this fifth sense, taste, can be as fundamental as sight or touch in the creative act. It is a source of inspiration in its own right.

Ladurée - Cordelia de Castellane