The collection is emphasised by Anderson’s meticulous meshing of modern and ancient (All photos: Dior)
On June 27, in a sprawling tent set up outside Hôtel des Invalides in Paris to evoke Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie museum, Jonathan Anderson unveiled his first menswear collection for the house of Dior, officially ushering in a long-awaited epoch for the French label.
The hottest seat of the season, the show was attended by the likes of Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, Sabrina Carpenter, Robert Pattinson and Daniel Craig, as well as Anderson’s industry fellows Stefano Pilato, Donatella Versace and Kris Van Assche. The event, reportedly held on a much smaller, intimate scale, was in such high demand that Meta sponsored a watch party hosted by fashion influencer Lyas for those who could not score a ticket.
From the social media teasers echoing Andy Warhol’s Polaroids of Lee Radziwill and Jean-Michel Basquiat to the two still-life artworks by Jean Siméon Chardin displayed at the venue, the oeuvre tapped into Dior’s quintessential fascination with the 18th century while also serving as a commentary on class, emphasised by Anderson’s meticulous meshing of modern and ancient. In a preview, the designer said, “There’s this thing that’s happening now where it’s [as if] we don’t have to be part of a society, but we can kind of look like it. We want to dress like it. Where there’s a kind of fascination with this idea of old and new.”
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The opening look comprised a green Donegal tweed bar jacket and a pair of voluminous pleated cargo shorts. The first was a homage to the house’s hourglass New Look, a symbol of fashion revolution and transformation, while the latter referenced the 1948 couture Delft dress. The following looks continued this fine intertwining of high and low, casual and formal — high-collared evening shirts and waistcoats paired with light-wash jeans and sneakers, tailcoats and dinner jackets tossed on over bare chests, and the occasional 1700s gold-trimmed frock coat dotted amid a sea of contemporary cable knit sweaters, fisherman sandals and faded denim.
The simplest example of Anderson’s discourse of the hour, though, was his reimagining of the Dior Tote. Arguably the maison’s most relaxed bag silhouette, the structured receptacle so commonly seen on the arms of the 21st century French Riviera summer crowd, took on the look of classic book covers ranging from a lemon yellow and crimson Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, complete with a cracked glass embroidery piercing the plain black surface.
This article first appeared on July 7, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
