Everything you need to know about the biophilic Dior AW26 fashion show by Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson …
It’s hard to believe that since Jonathan Anderson was appointed creative director of Dior in June of last year, this is – brace yourself – the seventh collection the Northern Irish designer has created for the French fashion house. After just nine months it would be understandable – for all of us – to be suffering from Dior fatigue. However, the fanfare isn’t unnecessary, either: the Dior AW26 show both surprised and delighted. With Anderson spearheading the green wave gripping fashion right now – with references to Irish tweed, Canterbury tracksuit bottoms and Bram Stoker in the mix in previous shows – yesterday’s outing in the Tuileries Garden was a fitting setting for a different but no less green theme. Nature was of utmost focus. What could be better than Dior en plein air? Another element that surprised and delighted? Macaulay Culkin at the celebrity step-and-repeat wearing a suitably verdant Dior x The Very Hungry Caterpillar jumper: a new level of celebrity-fashion symbiosis unlocked.
First off, we enjoyed how the AW26 show was teased by a beautifully-filmed snippet of Anderson in a tête-à-tête with our favourite fashion interrogator Bella Freud. The two lounged on the park’s signature green chairs, conversing about nature – and life. Is there anything more Parisian? It’s ironic as Anderson revealed that Paris perennially makes him feel like a tourist: the biggest irony of all being that an interloper is now setting the tone for fashion and culture at a brand that is more a French institution than a design house. The iconic green of the park’s seating, manufactured by French furniture company Fermob, was a motif that carried across into the show’s invitations: two miniature Sénat chairs. (We predict a spike in this exact green being splashed across homes and garden spaces. According to the internet, the exact shade is RAL 6013.) The bucolic tone for the show was further set with a quote from the queer novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall: “The fountains tossed clouds of spray into the air, and just for fun made an occasional rainbow.”
Image: Instagram @jonathan.anderson.
The biophilic theme continued to the catwalk presentation which took place on a suspended runway in the Tuileries which looped around the park’s octagonal lake. The result was a kind of park within the park. Nature was writ large in Anderson’s choice of accessories, too. Lily pad motifs (undoubtedly, a nod to Monet) appeared on earrings, clutch bags and vertiginous heels, while large, dinner-plate dahlias made for dramatic corsages. Although, perhaps the most covetable accessory of all was the velvet frog bag, pictured below, which had a charming, vintage look.
Image: Instagram @jonathan.anderson.
Much has already been said about the whimsy of Dior AW26: the feminine lace dresses, exaggerated ruffles, nipped-waist jackets with sprays of feathers, the layered mini skirts in Tuileries green with delicate dotty prints and sweeping trains: one show-goer described it as “a compelling argument for grown-up prettiness”. However, it was the casual looks that really came to life. A belted coat with a vaguely bohemian print reminded of a gentleman’s smoking jacket. It was teamed with a white shirt, stovepipe jeans and tan shoes that appeared like suede slip ons, but were revealed as Western-style boots with rounded toes. Another look took the same boots and teamed them with curved-leg jeans and a black tuxedo blazer with an XL ruffle. The kind of low-key dinner look that is, in fact, high drama: how French. It’s far more fascinating to imagine the kind of woman who might shrug these clothes on for a shortcut through the park. En route to where? A specialist shop in Le Marais? To see her situationship for dinner?
The show notes discuss the history of the Tuileries: how when the park opened to visitors in 1667 a strict dress code of habit décent, reflecting one’s rank, had to be adhered to as “an early reminder that the Tuileries has always been a stage for seeing and being seen”. The clothes in Jonathan Anderson’s Dior felt like attire more suited for a procession than a walk. According to Anderson, it “reflects the enduring theatre of Parisian life and the timeless role of fashion within it”. The sentiment feels apt. What’s better in Paris than the people-watching?
Imagery throughout: Dior.
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