Under Jonathan Anderson, Dior approaches its past as a field of references that gain meaning through movement. The youthful figures he imagines drift through Paris without urgency or destination, resembling modern flâneurs who absorb their surroundings rather than perform them. Their wandering leads them to the Dior boutique on Avenue Montaigne, where a small plaque embedded in the pavement bears the name Paul Poiret. The reference is subtle, almost easy to miss. In his time, the couturier worked just steps away from this address, shaping a vision of dress defined by openness and the crossing of stylistic and cultural boundaries.

This moment becomes a catalyst. Rather than reproducing Poiret’s language, the collection adopts his logic of openness, allowing new connections to form. As the models walk, denim and parkas sit alongside embroidery and epaulettes, while tailcoats, cropped Bar jackets, and elongated blazers are rendered with precision. Throughout, outerwear bridges the technical and the opulent.

Courtesy of Dior

Tailoring remains central, but it feels lighter and more precise. Jackets are slim and slightly elongated, trousers are lean, and the overall silhouette stays sharp without feeling rigid. Masculine and feminine elements blend easily, since much of the expression comes from fabric. In this way, Donegal tweeds, velvets, jacquards, and embroidery add texture and depth to an otherwise muted palette, adding richness without tipping into excess.

In this context, the collection proposes a way of dressing that allows meaning to accumulate gradually, through repetition, memory, and use. Rather than freezing Dior’s past into recognizable symbols, Anderson presents affluence and heritage not as fixed markers of status, but as materials that evolve through contact with youth, movement, and spontaneity. In doing so, the collection reflects a broader shift in how iconography operates today, moving away from instant recognition and toward a slower form of legibility shaped over time.

Courtesy of Dior