In the skincare realm, new links have been discovered between the relationship of skin ageing, nutrition, and inflammation. Together with Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, Dior Science has spent the last 10 years studying this phenomenon, which they’ve aptly termed “imflamm’aging”. In a nutshell, this beauty buzzword describes non-visible inflammatory actions that happen at a low level continuously within our dermis, causing premature skin ageing. If you weren’t triggered before, here’s cause for concern.

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“In modern cities we are facing two main challenges,” says Édouard Mauvais-Jarvis, director of environmental and scientific communication at Dior. “The first one is urban aggressions; not only from UV rays, but the effects of stress and pollution. We also see that there are more people undergoing dermatological procedures such as lasers to control pigmentation.” He adds that these two causes have resulted in an increasing number of Asian women, specifically, developing sensitive skin, which unsurprisingly, plays a crucial role in the development of pigmentation.

“The pigmentation process and the notion of irritation and sensitive skin are closely linked,” continues Mauvais-Jarvis. “In fact, when you have sensitive skin or some aggression on the skin’s surface after a dermatological procedure, you will have a reactive interaction with some things that are going quite close to the surface of the epidermis, and this will release a substance called Substance P.”

This substance, when triggered, exacerbates melanin production. The more sensitive your skin is, the more irritated it gets, which results in the production of more pigmentation. A vicious cycle for those determined to combat dark spots, and ironic, considering the treatments to reduce ageing effects of the skin, could in fact, be accelerating the very process. These factors, combined with the weakening of skin resistance due to micronutritional imbalances, spell an inevitable recipe for premature ageing.

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A Rose by Any Other Name

At Dior Skincare, the solution has been a decade in the making, with no limitations spared—from research and studies within Dior Science to the painstaking creation of the truly spectacular Rose de Granville—the first cosmetic Rose. “Roses have the ability, which few other flowers have, to transport us to a world of memories; the childhood memory of the scent of a rose in the family garden, of opulent, or on the contrary simple, wild flowers; the memory of a bouquet given, or a master’s painting admired in a museum, in which the roses looked so beautiful you thought you could smell them,” says Jérôme Rateau, breeder of the Rose de Granville for Dior, through a rigorous process from André Eve, the most prestigious rose-growing company in the world, no less.

Aesthetic and olfactory reasons aside, its curative powers form the ultimate weapon against chronic inflammation through the rose nectar, while creating micronutritional balance through a new double extract of rose micronutrients in the Dior Prestige line. “We decided to address this problem [by] combining the strength of whitening in a serum,” says Mauvais-Jarvis. This healing motion of the Rose de Granville—in and of itself a resilient flower able to survive harsh conditions off the coast of Normandy—combined with the powers of another superstar, Dior’s White Rose, selected for its infinite whiteness, and a formula of targeted action on whitening by controlling the production of melanin, serves to care for and treat the skin at the same time.

First, the Dior Prestige Light-in-White La Solution Lumière Serum cares for the skin by minimising sensitivity of skin, reinforcing the barriers on four functions: the hydric, physical, antioxidant, and anti-bacterial barrier. By focusing on creating healthy skin that is soothed and actively strengthened to resist sensitisation, the La Solution Lumière Serum enables visible reduction of dark spots on the surface and preps skin for a dose of boosted whitening action. Here, a new approach to whitening forms as the effects of Substance P receptors are also decreased by 50 percent, which limits neurospotting while skin is treated to multidimensional whitening and dark spots are targeted. Visibly reduced dullness and yellowness through cell-renewal activation followed by delayed pigmentation disorders ensure long-term results of dark spot memory reduction within the skin.

Time Capsule

Dior’s meticulous cultivation of the perfect cosmetic rose and study of the effects of inflamm’aging have come to this—potent elixirs and creams that heal and whiten at the same time. Coupled with the iconic La Crème, which features a texture only obtained through the passage of time, heated and cooled very slowly, repeated as many times needed over a long stretch of time, the Dior Prestige range is a testament of luxury itself.

“The standards are so high that it is the only line formulated using the necessary time, not the time available, to the detriment of the calendar’s deadlines and obligations,” says Brigitte Noé, director of the Formulation Laboratories at Dior. “Stretching time, lengthening operational procedures, indulging in spectacular quantities of the most expensive ingredients … nothing is spared.”

Couture for the skin, encapsulated in one bottle. And in the words of the Designer of Dreams himself, “True luxury requires authentic raw materials and true craftsmanship.”