Anderson’s second spring show for Dior keeps the house’s fitted-top, full-skirt contrast but lets the two halves drift apart, and it does so with a vocabulary he has already used
PARIS — Jonathan Anderson spent his second spring collection for Dior loosening the house’s most dependable proposition: the defined torso over the expansive skirt.
The show ran Sept. 29 around the Bassin de l’Octogone in the Jardin des Tuileries, more than 65 looks in all, with a cluster of camphor trees standing in the pond and dry-ice mist rolling off the water. Dior said the trees will be replanted in the gardens. Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth, Jisoo, Miranda Kerr, Greta Lee and Rosalía sat in the front row.
The Collection’s Central Idea
Guests received a pair of wénwán walnuts as the invitation, the kind rolled in the hand until the shells take on a patina. Anderson said the practice reminded him of “knowledge and preciousness in nature.” The show notes put the season’s brief in five words: “with lightness comes movement.”
The clothes tested how much movement a Dior structure can absorb. A black jacket with strict shoulders ended above a brief ruffled yellow skirt. A loose cream cardigan met a wide pink pleated skirt. The upper body was still defined, but nothing tied it to the hem.
Silhouette and Styling
The opening looks were translucent chiffon jackets layered over shirting and raw-hemmed miniskirts in the same fabric. A pale pink sleeveless dress started with a close, finely worked bodice, then opened into translucent panels around the knees; a soft yellow one was built from irregular layers. Lace, silk mousseline and organza carried the volume.
Hand-cut petals covered cropped jackets and miniskirts. Fine ribbons trailed from earrings, tops and skirts, and body chains hung across torsos. The sheer layers were the collection’s most visible construction problem, and Dior’s ateliers appear to have solved it by keeping a fitted core under each one.
The House Codes
Several looks went back to La Cigale, the 1952 dress. Anderson’s version was a strapless cocktail piece in pink pleated tulle, alongside a sundress in pleated georgette with a ribbon at the neckline, shown in three colors. Houndstooth, which entered the Dior lexicon with the 1938 English Petticoat, came back in wispy dusters and cropped jackets, and Bar jackets carried lace trim and contrasting lapels.
The Cigale is also the piece LVMH singled out. In its first-half report, the group cited an “excellent start” for Anderson’s first designs at the house and said the Cigale bag had been very well received.
What Worked
The counterweights. A white jacket edged in black sat over silver trousers; silver snakeskin trousers and mint-green metallic ones turned up under softer tops. Striped shirts hung loose over floral skirts, their familiar lines cutting across the romance below. Suede slip-ons in tan and olive, with black rubber toe caps and treaded soles, were worn under delicate fabric, and the slouchy shoulder bags were sized to match the skirts.
That practical layer makes the show legible as a wardrobe, not just a mood. It also gives a buyer a reason to stock the tulle and the trousers in the same delivery.
Where It Faltered
Familiarity is the risk. The frou-frou skirts, translucent houndstooth, checks and stripes were all in his first spring collection, and the petal shapes and cropped proportions came from autumn/winter. The single-ear ornament, here, strings resembling leis, appears in nearly all of his shows. The layers were meant to look loosely assembled; at this volume of repeated codes, loose can read as unedited.
Anderson’s timing has helped. LVMH’s Fashion & Leather Goods division reported first-half revenue of €18.15 billion, down 5 percent reported and 1 percent organic, before returning to organic growth in the second quarter. On the group’s July 27 call, chief financial officer Cécile Cabanis said Dior ran ahead of the division average and that all client groups were up.
A collection built from sheer layers, tailoring and daytime shoes suits a house being asked to sell across price points and moods. Whether spring 2027 extends that run or begins to repeat it depends on how much of the vocabulary he retires next season.
A walnut takes its patina from repetition. A runway does not.
See the complete collection below:
Images courtesy of Dior
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