It was just announced that Jonathan Anderson will put together the Dior men’s collection. It goes without saying the women’s will be next

For the longest time, it is no secret. Now, the speculation is over: Jonathan Anderson has taken up the creative director spot at Dior. The announcement was made by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault during the luxury group’s annual shareholders meeting earlier (Paris time), Reuters reported. Curiously, the news service stated that Mr Anderson “will create the June collection for Dior Men’s Fashion”. There is no mention of the women’s collection. Although Maria Grazia Chiuri still heads the women’s wear (and has just showed the soporific pre-fall 2025 collection in Kyoto), it is widely believed that her tenure shall end soon. Mr Anderson is not likely contented with doing just the menswear, having had full control of every product category at Loewe.

Despite the certainty of his appointment, we are still hoping it would not be true. To us, Dior has, under Ms Chiuri’s watch, become hugely and wholly lacklustre. The spirit with which the brand earned the description “New Look” in their founding years has largely evaporated these past nine of Ms Chiuri’s reign, touted, with no reputational gain to creativity, to be the first by a woman. It is disconcerting to think that Mr Anderson would be required to work within the parameters of the extreme commercialism that Ms Chiuri hails. Dior is not Loewe; the former has to fill their many massive stores with popular merchandise. One spark of hope. Jonathan Anderson is in the company of earlier iconoclasts—John Galliano and Raf Simons. Hope, we believe, is a good thing to hold close.

Illustration: Just So