Cordelia de Castellane, the ebullient creative mind behind Dior Maison and Baby Dior, welcomes us into her characterful Parisian abode.
The first thing you notice about Cordelia de Castellane Paris apartment is the light. Palatially tall windows stream in sunshine from both sides on blue-sky days. Off a gated limestone courtyard on the Left Bank, and up a winding staircase with regal burgundy carpeting, iron railings and hanging glass lanterns, it overlooks a quiet antiques district—but is minutes from the bustle of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d Orsay and many of the newly constructed Olympic stadiums.
This month, the city is expected to welcome 16 million visitors as it hosts the Olympic Games for the first time in 100 years. There’s a tentative excitement in the air—not least for de Castellane, the artistic director of Dior Maison and Baby Dior, who usually prefers a peaceful environment to aid her design process. “I need a lot of calm, because that’s when I can use my creativity, she says. “I was wondering if I should leave Paris for the Games, but I decided to stay for at least the first week because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the city like that.”
Leaning back into the living-room’s green-velvet Knole sofa that once belonged to Hubert de Givenchy, she’s dressed in a desirably laissez-faire ensemble： a chic monochrome mini-skirt and layers of mismatched bracelets accumulated over time, paired with a slept-in pink button-down shirt, her hair immaculately coiffed into a Sixties flick. “I’m wearing my pyjamas! I took a shower, put on make-up and got back into them, she says with a laugh.
Although de Castellane only moved here with her family six months ago, she has settled in seamlessly. “It’s like a small village： there is a bakery and a little flower shop on the corner, and I have my favorite bookstore just next to the Cafe de Flore, ” she says. “Sometimes when the weather is not great, I walk there and get its book of the week.” On the weekends, she retreats to her country house, 45 minutes north of Paris, where she satisfies the love of nature she learnt growing up in the Swiss mountains. Her four children, ranging in age from 24-year-old Stanislas to Vadim, who is 13, often join her there.
A member of one of France’s most prominent dynasties—she is the daughter of Count Henri and Countess Atalanta de Castellane—she also has a markedly creative lineage. Her mother is an interior designer, her great-great uncle was the architect and artist Emilio Terry, and her cousin Victoire de Castellane is the creative director of Dior Haute Joaillerie. As such, she grew up surrounded by exquisite design. “When I was a young girl, my family took me everywhere. I saw amazing places in France and England, and even in Poland,” she says, adding, “I’ve always been totally obsessed with beauty-it lifts us up.”
Aged 15, she spent a summer interning at Chanel and a year later joined the designer Emanuel Ungaro’s team, assisting in the workroom. “That was really the biggest education of my life, working with him and his wife,” she says. “I stayed for 10 years. I felt so attached that I couldn’t just go to another place.” Instead, in 2006, when her two eldest offspring were three and six years old, she left to establish her brand of children’s clothing, CdeC. Then, in 2012, Dior approached her to head up the relaunch of Baby Dior. “It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had, ” she says. “My goal was to bring the amazing quality and savoir-faire of Dior to the children. We do couture, streetwear and beautiful dresses, but we never go too far, because it’s very important to me to keep the innocence.
Five years later, she also took on Dior Maison, creating a range of treasures to suit any home. “It’s like a happy bazaar： you have something for every taste. You want flowers? You have them. You want something graphic? You have it. You want a little present for someone? You find it.” While she draws inspiration from mid- and 19th-century decor trends—as well as the artists with whom she collaborates on collections, such as Osanna Visconti and Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri—she says her personal vision is instinctual. “I would never say that I’m a decorator. I don’t think of it as a job, it’s just natural.” This is evident in her tablescapes, for which she is famous： in April, she created an extravagant naval-inspired spread for Dior’s grand ball with the Venetian Heritage Fund at the Venice Biennale. “If I’m doing a big event for 600 people, of course I need to test the colors so there are no problems, she explains. “But, if I’m just hosting a small dinner, I never think about what I’m going to do. I take a tablecloth, pick up some flowers and put them on the table.”
The same is true of de Castellane’s approach to furnishing her home, where she combines ancestral antiques and her own designs with fleamarket finds. Rather than let something special pass her by, she will store pieces she cannot immediately place for future projects, including items family members have tried to throw away (“They know now to check with me first!”). When she initially got the keys to the apartment, she completely filled its rooms with the contents of her locker. “I just said, “Bring everything!” Once it was all here, I could choose what I was going to keep and what I would send back.” Items that made the cut include a boomerang-shape Italian cream-boucle sofa, scattered with striped India Mahdavi cushions and an ornate blanket from Iran； a vintage Fortuny chandelier； and an 18th-century Dutch table and a pair of large decorative 17th-century doors, which are playfully juxtaposed by a leopard-print rug from Casa Lopez. One thing she bought especially for the apartment was the enormous fig-tree that commands the living-room, its dark leaves brushing the ceiling. “It’s my masterpiece, ” she says proudly. “I wanted something quite special, and the florist Eric Chauvin found it for me.” When I ask how it was hauled up the stairs, she chuckles at the memory. “You have no idea—everybody hated me!”
Easier to transport was her diverse collection of modern artworks, which hangs in the living areas. My eye is drawn to a striking piece by Aaron Young above the sofa, depicting Jesus, Che Guevara or Charles Manson, depending on the viewer’s perspective； and the large, dynamic photographs by Pilar Albarracin, of women suspended from the ceiling in elegant poses from her 2018“Carne y Tiempo’ series. Many of the other walls are covered in fabrics de Castellane created for Dior： fanciful singerie in the dining-room, toile de Jouy in the bathroom and floral stripes in the bedroom, which have also been used as the bed’s skirt. These provide a beautiful backdrop to her cherished heirlooms： the Garouste and Bonetti mirror, a gift from her parents on her 18th birthday； silver-framed family photographs adorning the bathroom countertop； and her grandfather’s wooden writing-desk beside her bed.
Of course, it was important for the apartment to have ample storage for her extensive clothing collection… in the form of a dedicated room across the hall from the bedroom. Inside are countless pumps in every color, gowns galore and her favorite Emanuel Ungaro looks. Nevertheless, she insists that comfort is king. “I’m quite classic： jeans, shirts and little ballerinas. I’m working all the time with new fabrics, so I need to be neutral or it becomes too much.” In Paris, she shops at Zara and a multi-brand store called By Marie, as well as at vintage boutiques. But among her favorite garments are the shirts that belonged to her late father, embroidered with his initials.
Indeed, as we walk through her home, she highlights the pieces that carry meaning and history—and it doesn’t take long to see that de Castellane values these above all others. As she says, “I like things to have stories behind them.”