Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Debut Got A Standing Ovation
Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Debut Got A Standing Ovation
Text: Izzy Copestake
Huge day for Ireland
It probably looked like every A-lister on your Instagram feed was in Paris at the end of last week. This was for one reason: Derry-born designer Jonathan Anderson was making his debut at Dior.
This is not just any fashion debut. This was the most anticipated menswear show of the season, and for good reason. Anderson, who is now the first person since Christian Dior himself to hold the title of sole creative director across all lines at the Dior house, is shaping up to be the busiest (and perhaps most ambitious) individual in fashion today.
The show was a landmark moment, not just in the fashion calendar, but for his career. Held in Paris with footballer Kylian Mbappé announced as Anderson’s pre-show muse, the debut was a careful balancing act of forward-looking innovation, subtle nods to the designer’s Irish heritage, and as ever – Anderson’s ability to make even the most heritage houses effortlessly cool.
The show itself was a masterclass in contrasts. Think preppy, but undone: tweed Bar jackets and stirrup chinos styled with deliberate scruffiness-untucked shirts, loose ties, the kind of messiness that feels impossibly cool. It was a dialogue with Dior’s long-standing anglophilia, only deconstructed and reassembled through Anderson’s lens.
One look particularly caught our eye: a nod to the classic Canterbury tracksuit, filtered through Dior. Yes, you read that right – a huge day for rugby boys and culchies alike.
Of course, the front row was stacked. Rihanna and A$AP Rocky arrived together, with Robert Pattinson, Daniel Craig, Sabrina Carpenter, Donatella Versace, and Simone Porte Jacquemus all in attendance. Carpenter, notably, wore Donegal tweed, a subtle nod to Anderson’s roots that didn’t go unnoticed.
Luca Guadagnino’s presence added even more buzz outside the show. The Italian filmmaker, who worked with Anderson on the costumes for Challengers, underscored the designer’s reach beyond fashion into the cinema.
Anderson’s love of storytelling was also woven into the accessories. One Dior bag referenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a book that gained personal significance for him after moving to Dublin in his youth. “When I realized Bram Stoker lived on the same street, Kildare Street, that I was living on in Dublin, it took me a few days to process… His Irishness is often overlooked,” Anderson said in a 2017 interview. Stoker’s tale, with its themes of fear and identity, resonated: The novel has been interpreted as Stoker’s play on late-Victorian fears of immigration—mostly from Eastern Europe at the time—which goes to show how history repeats itself.”
The standing ovation that closed the show wasn’t just for an incredibly collection. It was a recognition that fashion history had just shifted, and Jonathan Anderson is at the helm.
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