At Paris fashion week, which generates €10 billion annually for the French economy, the most highly anticipated show (live streamed to more than 95 million) was the Dior debut of Irishman Jonathan Anderson’s first womenswear collection.
Held in a vast white edifice in the Tuileries Gardens, hundreds of spectators gathered around the barriers from early morning and traffic came to halt at Concorde.
Backstage beforehand, Mr Anderson appeared calm and relaxed and explained that this spring/summer 2026 collection “was the tension between two types of women, the dressing up or the dressing down.
“It can go from sugary to Dior fantasy ... creating structure through twisting and turning. I like playing with tension,” he said.
READ MORE
Born in Magherafelt, Co Derry in 1984, he is the eldest son of the former Irish rugby captain and coach Willie Anderson.
A gifted communicator, he is known for irreverence, subversion and broad cultural and historical references.
Having made such a success at Loewe increasing its revenue fivefold, bringing fresh ideas to Dior at a time when luxury brands are suffering in a global market downturn will be a challenge.
[ Jonathan Anderson: Fellow fashionistas on the Irishman guiding Dior’s futureOpens in new window ]
In the past decade, Dior sales quadrupled to more than €10 billion, but sales decreased from €9.5 billion in 2023 to €8.7 billion last year, according to HSBC estimates.
The show, attended by Brigitte Macron and a host of South Korean pop stars and other celebrities, opened with a film projected on a massive triangular screen over the runway that documented Dior’s history in impressionistic flashbulbs moments.
That archive was the starting point of the collection in which the devil was in the detail: the twisted, folded, pleated and looped garments that resulted in silhouettes that veered from shapely hourglass dresses to hooped or bouffant skirts.
Looped silk dresses came in white, blue or black and distortions of the famous Bar jacket of 1947 were presented over stiffened pleats of the same length. A simple coat in bright green stood out as did a layered trench in grey suede. Some others with flap fronts looked overworked.
One dress was decorated with fabric hydrangeas, another with tiny roses. Skirts were mini, puffball or full length and the hats, playful takes on the tricorn gave the outfits a certain insouciant swagger.
It added up to a clever and varied collection with youthful and commercial appeal that drew a standing ovation at the end.
Whether it will revive Dior’s trading fortunes and keep it relevant for a new generation, only time will tell.
