Show review in a sentence: How Jonathan Anderson continues to rewire Dior with a newfound lightness for fall.
Designer: Jonathan Anderson
Location: Jardin des Tuileries, Paris
There’s no denying it: Jonathan Anderson is the designer of the moment. Even after his debut, the buzz had not dimmed. At the Jardin des Tuileries, he cracked Dior’s grand façade wide open, flooding a glass house with light and scattering floating lily pads across water. It felt weightless, hardly the mood you would expect for fall/winter and that was precisely why it worked.
There were subtle nods to Louis XIV and a faint thread of voyeurism running through the set. While other designers leaned into seasonal heaviness, Anderson reprogrammed the mood. Creams, pistachio greens and baby pinks washed over the runway as polka dots, feathers and sequins shimmered without tipping into excess. It was soft in palette but sharp in intent, a different frequency for fall.
Beneath the lightness, the noughties anchored the collection. Anderson revisited a decade once dismissed as awkward, even ugly and reframed it with lightness. The peplum, long considered a divisive relic, returned in outerwear, flared and flicked with attitude. Thick ruffles spilled from beneath brocade jackets, suede boots stretched long and lean, and embellished jeans caught the light like a dare. The effect was maximal, but knowingly so.
If anything is destined for real life, it is the bags. The Dior Cigale, since its debut, has felt primed for ubiquity, the mini Book Tote has consistently stirred attention and we caught sight of a new elongated cylinder silhouette with all the makings of a street-style fixture. If you are investing, this is where to look.
The only hesitation was that, at moments, there was almost too much happening. The ideas were strong enough to stand alone and the collection might have benefitted from a touch more restraint, with a little more room for the silhouettes to breathe.
Still, seasonal rules felt irrelevant. And that’s the beauty of Anderson’s Dior.
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