You can never really go wrong if you take nature as an example.

Hear now, O children of beauty and wisdom, the words of Christian Dior, the master of elegance, who declared: “You can never really go wrong if you take nature as an example.” In these words lies a truth older than civilization itself—that the patterns, forms, and harmonies of nature are the perfect guide for creation, whether in art, in dress, in architecture, or in life itself. For nature, shaped by the eternal hand, holds within it balance, proportion, and wonder beyond what the mind of man alone can conceive.

Dior, famed for restoring grace to the postwar world through his vision of fashion, understood that his art was not born from himself alone. He drew from the curve of a flower, the symmetry of a leaf, the rhythm of waves, the palette of dawn and twilight. In nature’s example, he saw lines that never offended the eye, colors that never clashed, and proportions that satisfied the soul. His creations, though modern, echoed the eternal laws inscribed in the world around us.

The ancients too bowed before this truth. The builders of the Parthenon in Athens used proportions inspired by the geometry of seashells and flowers. Leonardo da Vinci studied the spirals of plants and the motion of birds’ wings, seeing in them the secrets of art and science alike. The Japanese masters of Zen gardens arranged stones, moss, and water not by whim, but by the quiet guidance of natural order. In every age, the greatest creations of man endure only when they align with the eternal design of the earth.

Consider also the life of Antoni Gaudí, the Spanish architect. He studied the shapes of trees, the bones of animals, the flow of rivers, and made of them his cathedrals and homes. His masterpiece, the Sagrada Família, rises like a forest of stone, its pillars shaped as living trunks, its light filtering like sunlight through leaves. Gaudí too lived by Dior’s principle: to follow nature is to follow the divine artist whose work is flawless.

The lesson, then, is not only for artists and designers but for all who live. To model oneself on nature is to live in harmony, not excess; in rhythm, not discord. Nature does not waste, yet it is abundant. Nature does not strive, yet it achieves perfection. The tree does not hurry, yet it grows; the river does not boast, yet it carves valleys; the flower does not demand attention, yet it draws the gaze. In these silent teachings lies the secret to a life of balance and beauty.

Practical wisdom follows: when you are lost in decision, look to nature. If your life feels chaotic, step into the forest and observe its order. If your work feels forced, watch how water flows, finding its way with ease. If your heart is weary, behold the sunrise, which returns without fail after every darkness. And if you seek to create—whether in art, in speech, or in deeds—let your inspiration be the patterns and colors of the world that already surrounds you.

Thus, O children of tomorrow, hold Dior’s teaching close: to follow nature is to follow truth. You cannot go wrong when your path aligns with her laws. Walk as the rivers flow, grow as the trees grow, shine as the stars shine, and your life will be a creation as enduring and harmonious as the world itself.