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Vogue Singapore
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue Singapore
Jonathan Anderson played with history for his first show at Dior
'For me, style is how you put things together. Over the next period, that's what I want to work on,' said Jonathan Anderson. For all the enormity of his taking of the reins at the house of Christian Dior—and despite his blizzard of wildly talked-about teasers and the pre-crush of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, Sabrina Carpenter and all his celebrity and designer friends—the most convincing thing about his debut show was just how close-up and tangible he made it feel in reality. Anderson's plan was to get in with a visceral idea of what to wear with what, be it a Bar jacket with conceptual chino shorts, socks and 'school summer sandals,' a softly washed-out gray velvet morning jacket with a tonally similar pair of faded blue jeans or a full-on amazingly elaborate pre-revolutionary court or Louis 16th frock coat worn with ordinary black cotton trousers and brown suede high-top hiking boots. Wear this, should you fancy, with a high stock collar as an accessory, which Anderson got from looking at sketches by Romaine Brooks, a painter who documented lesbian life in the 1920s. This is the kind of high-low magic that Anderson transferred from his own brand to Loewe, and then used to revolutionise that LVMH label into a financially and critically successful phenomenon over a decade. Loewe didn't really have codes, though, so Anderson could start with a clean slate. With Dior it's very different; there's a long history to play on. 'The great thing about Dior is it being able to reinvent with each designer,' he said. 'I embrace that. Like Maria Grazia Chiuri's book bag. That is not my bag, but I can do something else with it.' Anderson's own agenda for Dior was emblematically set out in his use of Andy Warhol's photographs of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and the socialite Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy's sister. Two immensely stylish Americans 'from two different sides of the spectrum—who might've been at the same party,' as Anderson put it. Dior, he admitted, in a preview is 'ginormous,' a house which 'has to mean something to everyone.' In his first outing, he showed his adeptness at focussing on both detail and enormity at the same time. Outside, there was a stretched photograph of Christian Dior's original 1950s salon at the Avenue Montaigne covering the giant venue at the Invalides. Inside, the models walked up and down, close to the audience, so there could be no mistaking the quality or the detail of the clothes. 'This is how people saw couture in the original Dior salon, really close up,' said Anderson in a preview. 'I want people to be able to see the fabric and the make, whether it's the wash of a chino or the moire silk on a waistcoat.' On the dove-gray walls hung two small, priceless still-lifes by Chardin, the French past-master of the close contemplation of small things—a vase of flowers and a bowl of wild strawberries—painted sometime in the 1750s or 60s. Bringing important art into proximity with fashion people could be said to be one of Anderson's formulae. These borrowings, quieting as they are in content, were naturally also a power statement for LVMH, whose resources and influence can overcome the difficulty of borrowing from the Louvre (the strawberries) and the National Museum of Scotland (the flowers) for an hour's fashion show. In the collection, the direct parallels were Anderson's appropriations of 18th- and 19th- century French menswear. 'They are incredibly rare, but we found a collection of original waistcoats,' he explained. 'For me, and for all my generation, Margiela was God. So I thought: 'let's make them replicas.'' It was his route into showing the elevated patrimony of Dior's haute couture ateliers—the flower embroidery, the latticed gold buttons, the exact color of a mauve moire silk waistcoat. The closeness of the presentation meant one could gasp at the exquisite French quality of a pink faille waistcoat and practically sense the refinement of a silk evening scarf as it swished by. But Anderson wants to land all of that in reality, too: he'd thought about the idea of boys discovering those pieces 'in a trunk, and just pulling them on.' That worked, paced out as the show was with a long inventory of French-preppy items including colorful cable knit sweaters, normal summery jeans. Where was Jean-Michel Basquiat in this? Anderson had taken care to consult with Karen Binns, the late artist's close friend who was commissioned by Dior to curate a podcast on the 1980s in New York, featuring Hilton Als and the artist Toxic. Perhaps his innate knack of knotting a rep tie over a denim chambray shirt was present in the multiple tie segues? Ties on shirts are young fashion now. It worked: something multiple generations of Dior shoppers can safely agree on. And of course, Monsieur Dior himself had to be dealt with. Anderson took him head on in his first look. The Bar jacket was made from an Irish Donegal tweed—a matter of national pride for Anderson—which featured here and there throughout the collection. As for the side-looped flanges on the cargo shorts in that same look? Well, those came from Anderson's study of the stiff architecture of a Dior winter 1948 couture dress named Delft. 'It's old. It had flopped. That inspired me,' he said with a laugh, adding, 'I think it's a good bridge between history, commerce, history, style—and make.' Anderson is a very big gun now in the coming face-off between the three newly-placed 40-year-old creative directors who head the biggest labels. Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Demna at Kering's Gucci we'll be seeing in September, when Anderson will also be showing his first womenswear for Dior. These are times when the stakes are high and the luxury market is more under fire than it has been for decades. Anderson isn't fazed. There was a gleam in his eye when he said, 'I think it's good the market is difficult, because it means it's ready to change. And I always work best under pressure.' Courtesy of Dior 1 / 20 Look 1 Courtesy of Dior 2 / 20 Look 2 Courtesy of Dior 3 / 20 Look 3 Courtesy of Dior 4 / 20 Look 6 Courtesy of Dior 5 / 20 Look 8 Courtesy of Dior 6 / 20 Look 10 Courtesy of Dior 7 / 20 Look 11 Courtesy of Dior 8 / 20 Look 18 Courtesy of Dior 9 / 20 Look 20 Courtesy of Dior 10 / 20 Look 30 Courtesy of Dior 11 / 20 Look 35 Courtesy of Dior 12 / 20 Look 41 Courtesy of Dior 13 / 20 Look 42 Courtesy of Dior 14 / 20 Look 44 Courtesy of Dior 15 / 20 Look 46 Courtesy of Dior 16 / 20 Look 48 Courtesy of Dior 17 / 20 Look 50 Courtesy of Dior 18 / 20 Look 57 Courtesy of Dior 19 / 20 Look 59 Courtesy of Dior 20 / 20 Look 67 This article was first published on
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jonathan Anderson on Building His Dior World, One Show at a Time
PARIS — 'You cannot rebuild a house in one show. It's impossible. You'd have to be like Christ,' Jonathan Anderson said on the eve of unveiling his debut collection as creative director of Dior. It was the Irish designer's attempt to manage expectations ahead of the most highly anticipated event of the Paris men's collections, and one of the most closely scrutinized designer debuts in a year of unprecedented creative upheaval at leading luxury houses. More from WWD Sabrina Carpenter Goes Classic in Pleated Skirt and Satin Peep-toe Louboutin Pumps Dior Homme's Spring 2026 Show Jonathan Anderson's Dior Debut Draws Daniel Craig, Robert Pattinson, TXT and Rihanna Summer 2025 Fashion: City Escape Since Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of Dior parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, offhandedly confirmed his appointment as creative director of Dior menswear at the group's annual general meeting in April, the pressure has been building on Anderson, fresh off a stellar decade at smaller stablemate Loewe. Last month, the house confirmed he would also be in charge of women's collections and haute couture, making him the first designer since founder Christian Dior to have full purview over the house. His appointment coincides with a general slowdown in spending on luxury goods, which has seen Dior lag the rest of LVMH's fashion and leather goods division amid consumer pushback against a rash of post-pandemic price increases. Anderson and Delphine Arnault, chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture, are on a mission to fix this. The designer cautioned that fashion critics, and shareholders, will have to settle in for the ride. 'It's going to take five collections to break the cycle of it, and then you can kind of birth out a vision from it,' he said in an interview. 'So for me, it is a process of decoding the brand, and then from that, we hope to end up with a solution.' Though he's long been touted as a rising star in the LVMH firmament, Anderson admitted he had not pictured himself in the hot seat at Dior, the founding brand and crown jewel of Bernard Arnault's luxury empire. 'I would never have imagined five years ago that I would be here. So I'm trying to kind of go back to, 'What is Christian Dior?'' he said. 'I didn't know much about Dior, so in a weird way, it's a little like doing a Ph.D. You're going in and trying to absorb it and then reconfigure it.' Starting with menswear felt like a perfect entry point for Anderson, who launched his eponymous JW Anderson label as a men's line in 2008. 'I've always started with men's. I started with men's in my own brand, I started with men's at Loewe. I'm kind of a creature of habit and slightly superstitious, which Dior was as well,' he remarked. He teased his vision with a campaign featuring Andy Warhol's Polaroids of two cultural icons, Lee Radziwill and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and a couple of videos starring soccer player and Dior brand ambassador Kylian Mbappé. The idea was to project an attitude that will then filter into the nitty-gritty of new ready-to-wear and accessories collections. 'It's about style. Christian Dior, the man himself, was more about archetype,' he explained, noting Dior's proficiency at churning out architecturally inspired silhouettes. In addition to the Bar jacket, which famously launched the New Look in 1947, Anderson pinned three archival dresses on his men's mood board for spring 2026: the Caprice, the Cigale and the Delft. 'You could probably get a show out of each of these looks, because they were radical in their moment,' he mused. The 40-year-old was also inspired by Dior's world-building skills. 'For me, what makes Dior himself unique is that I think he has got huge amounts of empathy,' he noted. From the beginning, the founding couturier worked with decorator Victor Grandpierre to establish key house codes including its signature colors — gray and pink — and the Louis XVI chair. In addition to decorating the label's headquarters on Avenue Montaigne, Grandpierre designed the displays and packaging of iconic perfumes such as Miss Dior. Dior's obsession with the 18th century chimed with Anderson, who took it as a cue to explore historic menswear pieces, including a collection of 23 waistcoats, some of which he replicated for the show — an idea he credited to another design icon, Martin Margiela, and linked to the capabilities of Dior's haute couture workshop. 'On the first day being introduced to the couture team, it was really fascinating that some customers still today order looks from the '50s, and we make them for them still, which I think is remarkable,' he said. 'For me, that just shows you the power of the brand.' He's keen to embrace the history of the house, including the contributions of his predecessors. In addition to Dior, the women's side has been helmed by Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri, with Hedi Slimane, Kris Van Assche and Kim Jones steering the men's division since the new millennium. 'When you go into a house like Dior, which is so famous — taxi drivers know it, everyone knows it — I think you have to not be afraid of the past,' Anderson said. 'People want history from a brand that has history, but they want it reinvented.' That's why he's embraced Chiuri's bestselling Book Tote, offering his own take with versions that reprise the cover of 'Dior by Dior,' Christian Dior's autobiography; Irish author Bram Stoker's 'Dracula,' and an 18th-century classic, 'Dangerous Liaisons' by Choderlos de Laclos. 'I don't want to evaporate what every single person has contributed to this brand,' Anderson explained. 'It's not efficient, and it's just not respectful.' Revisiting the Bar jacket was almost a rite of passage. Anderson has kissed the ring by making it the opening look of his show. 'It's something that Dior has barked on about for probably too long, but I do think it is probably one of the most genius pieces of clothing, because ultimately it is taken from men's and it is reconfigured every time a designer comes in, which is kind of interesting, because it's not a bag,' he said. Still, he doesn't believe in being too reverential, nothing that the scale of Dior means he must speak to a large cross-section of potential consumers. Under Chiuri and Jones, the brand's sales quadrupled from 2.2 billion euros in 2017 to 8.7 billion euros in 2024, according to HSBC estimates. LVMH does not break out revenues by brand. 'It's a difficult balance, because the brand is bigger than it was 20 years ago, it is very democratic,' Anderson remarked. 'I'm trying to juggle this thing, which is, how do you give style, attitude and fashion? How do you give the classicism? And at the same time, how do you give, like, where the world is?' Some trial and error will be involved, but he's willing to take risks. 'It takes time to ultimately reject things within the brand through experiencing them,' he said. 'Being in a historical house, there has to be a respect for it, but at the same time, you have to be willing to challenge it, because if Dior had been alive today, he would have designed completely differently.' To those who have speculated how he will juggle double duty at Dior with his own brand and ongoing collaboration with Japanese fast-fashion giant Uniqlo, Anderson had a simple message: no, he will not be designing 18 collections a year, as some memes have suggested. Instead, he will focus on around eight Dior lines per year, between ready-to-wear, haute couture and pre-collections. 'Of course, I was not going to be doing four at my own brand, or at some point we were doing six, because there's no modernity, plus that people would just hate me after a while. It would be like Dua Lipa doing an album every month — it would become boring,' he said. Best of WWD Which British Royal Is Heir to Prince Philip's Style Crown? Milan Men's Fashion Week to Attract JW Anderson, 1017 Alyx 9SM, 44 Label Group Men Need Five Shoe Styles, According to Doucal's
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Social media outrage makes Prada credit India's Kolhapuri craft for ₹1.2 lakh ‘luxury' sandals
Prada has finally admitted what many online had pointed out days ago, that its ₹1.2 lakh leather sandals, featured in the Spring/Summer 2026 menswear collection, were inspired by India's iconic Kolhapuri chappals. The acknowledgement came only after heavy backlash on social media, with users accusing the Italian luxury brand of cultural appropriation and calling it a 'shameless cash grab.' Models at Milan Fashion Week were seen wearing traditional-style footwear, with no credit initially given to the Indian communities that've crafted them for generations. Social media outrage forces a response from Prada From fashion bloggers to government officials, everyone questioned how a legacy craft sold for ₹300-₹1500 in Indian markets could be turned into an expensive 'luxury sandal' with no credit. Users slammed Prada for profiting off Indian heritage without acknowledging it. Many said the design, often created by the Chamar community, was being 'stolen in plain sight.' New Age Colonialism Under the Garb of FashionThe foreign fashion house @Prada has just launched a sandal under its own label that is virtually indistinguishable from our traditional Kolhapuri chappal—one of India's most cherished heritage crafts. By making no mention of its… As the hashtag #KolhapuriChappals trended, posts poured in comparing centuries of Indian craftsmanship with a brand label and a massive price tag. In a response shared with media outlets, Prada said, 'We acknowledge that sandals inspired by traditional Indian footwear were featured in our Milan show. We are committed to responsible design and open dialogue with local artisan communities.' Prada is selling products looking like Kolhapuri chappals for over ₹1 lakh. Our artisans make the same by hand for ₹400. They lose, while global brands cash in on our culture. Sad! The brand confirmed it is in touch with the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce to ensure proper recognition of the heritage design. This comes after strong criticism from the public and government officials urging accountability and respect for India's artisans. Larger issue: Valuing homegrown heritage This isn't the first time global fashion houses have been accused of lifting Indian designs without credit. For example, Christian Dior's 2023 Mumbai show was accused of using Indian craftsmanship without credit. The Kolhapuri sandal, which dates back to the 12th century, carries cultural, historical, and social importance. @Prada You've taken our Kolhapuri footwear, but not even mentioned Kolhapuri chappal. For generations, we've poured our soul into this craft it's not just footwear, it's our identity. Give us the respect we deserve, or stop stealing our art please Netizens reminded everyone that such crafts should be protected, not just by law but by pride. As one user put it, 'If you don't value your culture, someone else will, then sell it back to you at 50 times the price.' For now, Prada may have credited India's artistry, but the larger question remains: When will the world start paying artisans what they truly deserve?
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jonathan Anderson's Dior Redesigns Regency Romance for the iPhone Generation
If Anthony Bridgerton time-traveled to 2025, what would he wear? What if Mr. Darcy lived in a Lower East Side loft instead of his Pemberley estate? How would Little Women's Laurie dress if he were a creative director nepo baby? The latest Dior Homme collection indicates that J.W. Anderson might have the answer. The Irish designer's highly anticipated first runway show as creative director for Christian Dior is finally here, debuting on June 27 at the Hôtel des Invalides during Paris Fashion Week for the Men's Spring/Summer 2026 season. And though we won't get to see his vision for womenswear until this fall, there are plenty of hints as to what's in store from the French fashion house's new era. According to a press release from the brand, the collection references 'history and affluence' as Dior design codes get updated for a new generation: 'Amid all the youthful spontaneity, style is paramount, allowing empathy to redefine elegance." The Dior Homme collection's first look says it all: Baggy cargo shorts with balloon-like proportions—capped off by tube socks and fisherman sandals—lent a summer in Bushwick aesthetic, while a 19th-century white necktie and high collar worthy of a Jane Austen drawing room brought a bit of bodice-ripping charm to the ensemble. It's Regency Era romance for the iPhone generation—and a fancifully modern introduction to the world of Dior, according to Jonathan Anderson. The Zoomer boyfriend meets Brontë sisters vibe didn't stop there. Fancy dress party vests (in pink, white, and even lavender) paired with army fatigues, cable knits, and boxing sneakers (laces untied, of course). A strong case for more brocade and tweed in fashion emerged. And it was easy to imagine a modern-day Heathcliff wandering the moors wearing Look 19's cropped jacket, ab-hinting tuxedo shirt, and tasseled loafers (looking at you, Jacob Elordi!). Also, the men wore capes—so many capes!—in every luxurious fabric and pattern imaginable. Anderson also lent a bit of prep flair to his new Dior with Ivy League touches. Jaunty suspenders, office blue oxfords, and even the dreaded Nantucket Red chinos made appearances on the runway. And perhaps most memorably, a pair of colorful sweaters draped over two models' shoulders, prompting the question: Who knew cable knit could be so sexy? It was an inspired debut from the genius behind Loewe's tomato and puzzle bag, and a promise of what's to come in the months ahead—soft boy summer, anyone? Whether the Regency Era references will continue at Anderson's womenswear debut in September remains to be seen. Although I think we can all agree that an empire waist dress by Anderson in the style of Elizabeth Bennet would fly off the shelves. Romance isn't dead, at least in the world of fashion. Read the original article on InStyle
Bloomberg
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Dior Unveils Designer's Debut Show as LVMH Label Seeks Reboot
Christian Dior unveiled its first collection from newly-appointed artistic director Jonathan Anderson at a show in Paris that featured elegant and wearable attire for men. The Northern Irish designer's debut is an important test for LVMH's second-biggest fashion label, which has struggled recently amid sluggish demand. Dior likely generated about 14% of the French luxury group's profit last year, behind the much larger Louis Vuitton, according to HSBC estimates.
