[Teacher Li Youqun]Seoul’s Café Dior: Meeting the Picasso of Pastry

Originally fromLi Youqun

Seoul’s Café Dior

As a fan of Dior for over twenty years, there’s nothing more wonderful than enjoying coffee and desserts in a place surrounded by Dior’s beautiful fashion and accessories. And it’s even better when the desserts are from my favorite Pierre Hermé.

Even though I had worked until the early hours the night before in Seoul, I summoned the energy to get up early to visit the Dior flagship store in Gangnam’s Cheongdam-dong. In recent years, some of Seoul’s landmark buildings have been truly stunning. Like DDP, the Dior flagship store features a bold, futuristic exterior with sleek lines. The six-story building, constructed from white resin and fiberglass, draws inspiration from the tailoring processes, the lines of haute couture, and the fabrics used by designers at Dior’s atelier on Paris’s Avenue Montaigne 30. It resembles a flowing white gauze floating in the sky or an unreal white petal. The design comes from French architect Christian de Portzamparc, who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1994, and Peter Marino, an architect, landscape designer, and painter.

Stepping inside, the first thing that catches your eye is, of course, Dior’s latest collections, which I’m familiar with. But my main focus was actually the fifth-floor Café Dior.

Friends who really know me are aware that Paris is my favorite city. I’m captivated by the Eiffel Tower at night and by Parisian pastries, especially those from Pierre Hermé, because they serve the best macarons in France. So, can you imagine how thrilled I was when Café Dior teamed up with the Picasso of pastry?

The interior of Café Dior continues the style of the exterior—high ceilings paired with a minimalist, white, streamlined aesthetic. A large mirror covers the atrium, and there’s a spacious sofa area with Dior-related books. But what caught my interest was the outdoor seating by the floor-to-ceiling windows. I once imagined sitting there in Dior sunglasses, enjoying a macaron. I wore the sunglasses, but the weather was unpredictable, so I ended up choosing a seat by the sofa.

I ordered a plain black coffee and afternoon tea. The handsome chef from Pierre Hermé in France personally plated and decorated the desserts in front of me. Bright red Damascus rose petals surrounded the entire sweet spread—madeleines, macarons, and sugar-glazed croissants. For a moment, I felt like I had returned to Paris. The desserts exuded a subtle rose fragrance, yet they weren’t overly sweet—just elegant.

I remember reading a report about Pierre Hermé, which said he changed traditional French pastries by reducing their sugar content and giving them a more understated and elegant appearance. Pierre Hermé once said, “I use sugar like salt—as a seasoning—to bring out the layers of other flavors.” But it’s not about reducing sugar; it’s about striking the right balance. Isn’t this philosophy remarkably similar to Dior’s signature elegance and simplicity?

“Returning to classics” is Pierre Hermé’s philosophy in making desserts, Dior’s commitment in fashion, and an eternal trend in the fashion world. Take one bite of Café Dior’s desserts, and you’ll feel happiness overflow through all five senses. In truth, both desserts and fashion, taste and vision, need to be both new and traditional—striking just the right balance.
Next time, I’ll come back to try another dessert, perhaps dressed in Dior Homme—or maybe I’ll just head back to Paris.

Li Youqun / International Fashion Director

A leading figure in the Chinese fashion industry, holding the record for editing the most fashion magazine launches. Active in the entertainment world, he is a designated collaborator on fashion shows like “Women We Love” and a stylist for international brands and celebrities. Centered around fashion, he is the only figure in China spanning multiple roles as editor-in-chief, fashion director, stylist, and author.

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