Runway shows these days lack the artistic energy essential to designing a collection. Jonathan Anderson, however, has proved this statement wrong with his recent debut show for Dior.
Jonathan Anderson is the new head designer for all of Dior’s collections. Now, Anderson is in charge of the menswear and womenswear collections. This includes not only ready-to-wear, but also haute couture.
Before Anderson arrived at Dior, Kim Jones was the head designer of menswear since 2018. Maria Grazia Chiuri has been the head designer of women’s wear since 2016.
Dior has a very traditional look that the brand must uphold, as it’s one of the oldest fashion houses in Paris. The founder, Christian Dior, had a keen eye for what looked good on a female figure.
Dior’s main attribute to his dresses is having a fitted bodice around the breast and waist area, then having a loose and wide silhouette for the rest of the dress from the waist down.
Anderson’s experience
Before being appointed as head designer of Dior, Anderson was the head designer of Loewe since 2013.
Anderson is an experimental designer, meaning that he uses a variety of unique silhouettes. Anderson will typically make the bottom silhouette baggy, and the top half of the body slim. He also mixes different genres of clothing, for example, a tailored evening wear jacket with a casual, baggy, floral skirt.
Anderson thinks outside the box with his designs, which is an interesting pairing with Dior. Dior has unique designs; however, they are not in the way that Anderson’s designs are. The unique aspect of Dior as a brand is its use of femininity in women’s wear designs. This makes Dior unique because at the time Dior started his fashion line, femininity was not celebrated; it was somewhat dulled down by societal standards. Dior creates a space where a woman can celebrate their figure without receiving judgment for it.
On the other hand, Anderson’s designs play with prints and silhouettes. What makes Anderson’s designs so unique is that he often pairs colors that typically do not go together. However, Anderson makes these unconventional color combinations work. Anderson also creates interesting silhouettes, which are generally wide, but then slim at the waist. Anderson also experiments with geometric shapes and patterns, which give his collections a “futuristic” look.
Anderson’s debut show for Dior
This is Anderson’s first show for Dior, which means the pressure is high. The debut show for a new designer is always the most important. Debut shows indicate whether a designer is a good fit for the brand they design for.
As a designer, it’s essential to keep your design integrity while staying true to the company or brand you are designing for. For a haute couture house like Dior, it is important to stay faithful to the brand’s traditions, particularly since Dior prides itself on its brand integrity.
Now, let’s get into the five looks that I consider to be Anderson’s best.
5 best looks
First look
(Image: Dior/Youtube)
This is the first of the five best looks. I chose this look because of the way Anderson paired these items of clothing together. Anderson made this look feminine while keeping the silhouette loose, which is difficult to pull off.
The top is a white silk pleated blouse, while the pants are baggy and end in the middle of the calf. The silk blouse is what makes this look feminine, because silk is often in women’s evening wear. Silk is often used in women’s evening wear due to its beautiful drape on the body.
On top of the blouse, we have this beautiful black lace that covers half of the model’s face. This lace wraps around her neck and goes all the way down the back of the blouse.
Here is a picture of the side view:
(Image: Dior/Youtube)
Second look
(Image: Dior/Youtube)
Here, we have a constructed dress that reaches past the model’s knees. It’s slim fitting from the bust to the waist, then becomes wider from the hips down.
With this look, we can really see Anderson’s work as a designer, as the proportions on the model are loose, and geometric shapes come into play. Anderson layers and weaves parts of the dress to create a voluminous mass of squares and rectangles.
Anderson takes inspiration from Dior’s archives and the brand’s heritage. He also draws inspiration from John Galliano, which is noteworthy because Galliano is a designer known for using theatrical elements in his shows and designs. This dress has an element of theatrics to it, with its geometrical shape pattern created by layers of fabric on top of one another.
What makes this dress so eye-catching is the fact that the pieces of fabric are thick and woven together, creating a sense of movement in the dress. The dress comes alive as the model walks, adding another level of theatrics to this piece. You could say the dress walks with the model.
Third look
(Image: Dior/Youtube)
This is one of my favorite looks from the entire collection. The color and the fabric both work together so well. In addition, the dress is adorned with tiny fabric flowers that are embroidered onto it.
The top half of the dress is slim-fitted, while the lower half is long and flowing. This is my favorite type of silhouette, characterized by a slim top portion and a longer, wider, or flowing lower half.
Of course, we also need to pay attention to the construction of the bottom half of the dress. This is not just any ordinary dress; the bottom half of the dress has sections that protrude from the hip line and down to the ankles.
This creates an interesting look because the model’s legs are clearly visible under the dress, yet we mainly focus on the garment itself due to its beauty when it is in full motion.
Fourth look
(Image: Dior/Youtube)
This is by far my favorite look from the show. Everything about this look is perfect. The silhouette complements the model’s figure beautifully, the fabric is gorgeous, and the back of the dress is so pretty and unique.
This look is the perfect blend between Anderson’s artistry and Dior’s integrity as a brand. Watching the dress come down the runway in motion is the most fascinating part, as we get to see how the fabric and the silhouette work together to create a moving piece of art.
The dress is a slim, sheer dress with two wires protruding from the hip area, creating volume around the hips. Then, the back has an angel wing-like shape that moves with the model as she walks.
The future of Dior
After watching this show and analyzing the garments, I can confidently say that Dior is moving in the right direction. Anderson is an incredibly talented designer who thinks carefully about the looks he puts together.
I also appreciate the fact that he stays true to the Dior brand by creating their standard silhouette in the majority of his looks. He then adds his own touch to these silhouettes by layering fabric in a geometric pattern or by adding wires to create volume.
I think as time goes on, Dior’s look will become more abstract and avant-garde with Anderson as head designer. This is because Anderson is not afraid to experiment with fabrics and proportions. He is also unafraid of showing them at big runway events.
In recent times, runway shows typically bore me because everything in the industry now seems to be the same. Fashion has lost its artistry, which is sad because this is what fashion is supposed to be about.
However, with Anderson as the new head designer of Dior, I have hope for the industry. I have not seen a designer like Anderson in the high fashion industry in a really long time.
What makes Anderson so special?
Anderson stays true to himself as a designer, and even when working for a prestigious brand like Dior, he still manages to create looks that go beyond the brand’s boundaries. The point of fashion is not to keep regurgitating the same types of looks in different formats; it is to create new looks and new ways of constructing garments.
Anderson is a designer who thinks about what is new and what the future of fashion should be, instead of staying stuck in the past. Anderson draws inspiration from a variety of historical art styles, including those of Christian Dior and 18th-century art. Yet, he still manages to keep his designs modern and current with the times. This is because Anderson likes to have a balance between the past and the present in his work.
Another important inspiration to note is architecture. Anderson is deeply inspired by architecture, which is evident in much of his work at Loewe, as well as in this debut show for Dior.
I can’t wait to see what he does with his next collections, and I will definitely stay tuned for more of his work with Dior.
