Musée Rodin was the venue for the designer's second men's show for the house, and he sought to shun normality.
He is one of fashion's greatest ruminators so where better than the Musée Rodin in Paris to stage Jonathan Anderson's second menswear show for Dior. Guests including the actors Robert Pattinson and Mia Goth, and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton wandered past Auguste Rodin's The Thinker as they made their way to their seats on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking backstage before the show, Anderson, dressed in his signature faded Levi's jeans and a navy cashmere sweater, described the collection as "another character study", explaining that this time he set out to explore "the idea of a new aristocracy", questioning "what it means today" and "what can it be?" The-41-year old designer said when it came to the social hierarchy he wanted to "ignore the aspect of money" and instead home in on "their eccentricity".
A triumvirate of models opening the show captured the mood, dressed in sequin camisole tops, skinny jeans and snakeskin boots. Every model wore an obviously synthetic wig, either scruffy and faded or in a bright canary yellow.
It was on a daily stroll down his sandbank, Avenue Montaigne, that Anderson first began to muse on the idea of "dressing versus dressing up" after he spotted a mosaic dedicated to Paul Poiret near the Dior store. The French designer, who died in 1944, was known for abolishing traditional couture techniques including the corset and instead leaning into the theatrics of the belle époque era. Anderson said he liked the idea of playing with Poiret's sense of "ease", something Christian Dior famously rejected with his New Look collection that caused a global ruckus due to its hourglass silhouettes in 1947.
Anderson said he didn't want "normality," instead he wanted to push the idea of his "Dior characters", describing the result as "punk-iness meets Poiret".
There were still bar jackets but this time around instead of hems sitting at the traditional top of the thigh they were cropped to above the hip with some showing slivers of bellies. Suiting which Anderson described as "slightly fucking with the proportions of" either drew on prewar references or 60s cuts. Anderson said he chose the eras as they were "moments just before the world sort of slightly changed", musing that "clothing can kind of sometimes tell you something before the bang".
Known for his eclectic references, his mood board also featured the New Jersey musician MK Gee whose influence could be seen in roomy parka jackets, some with Poiret-esque frou-frou sleeves that came slung over neat tailoring, alongside the British comedy Withnail and I where Richard E Grant's lived-in aesthetic informed faded and distressed fabrics.
Anderson, who in June 2025 became the first solo creative director of menswear and womenswear since Dior himself, said his design approach was about "collaging things together". Pointing to a powder-blue polo shirt, the kind usually found on a golf course, that he had adorned with sparkly epaulettes and paired with floral printed trousers, Anderson said he liked when a look has "a bit of kind of wrongness" to it.
For a brand that has previously played it safe, it's an ambitious new approach, especially in a fragile luxury market. This week new tariff threats from Donald Trump as he pursues Greenland caused shares at Dior's parent company LVMH to drop 4% on Monday. However, a unique point of view and focus on quality is what Dior thinks can set themselves apart from competition and justify a higher price point. Anderson had just a month to prepare for his menswear debut last June and three weeks to plan for the women's so is now enjoying playing with the development of new fabrics, especially for his couture debut next week.
Items from his debut shows have only started to arrive in stores so it will take another couple of weeks before his commercial impact can be calculated, but Anderson mentioned female customers are already buying the men's bar jackets "because it's a bit more kind of anti-fitting". He is now trying to "bridge the two ateliers", explaining that is "how we shop today".
"That type of (siloed) thinking is no longer there," he added. He compared it to a dessert menu where "you leave the consumer to kind of make the decision for themselves. They can mix it up and find their own personal style. I am not Christian Dior and I am not Dior the brand but I am here to add a chapter to it."
Elsewhere, on Monday night, Pharrell Williams, the creative director of Louis Vuitton, LVMH's biggest brand, also toyed with the idea of the future of luxury. Riffing on his now signature dandy aesthetic, Williams described the collection as "retro-futuristic", with a focus on technical tailoring. Double-breasted suits in houndstooth and herringbone checks became reflective under lights; shirts came purposefully crinkled, designed to sculpt to the wearer while jackets featured temperature regulating tech. Guests including Adolescence star Stephen Graham and musician Skepta sat in front of the catwalk which snaked around a giant prefabricated home also designed by Williams.