Jonathan Anderson looks to the extraterrestrial by embedding real meteorite fragments into the cuffs of his Dior couture debut.
Summary
- The Inspiration: Anderson constructs a wunderkammer aesthetic, pulling fossils, meteorites, and 18th-century portrait miniatures from deep time. He balances those historical artifacts with a personal baton passed from John Galliano in the form of fresh cyclamen flowers.
- The Exhibition: Beyond the runway, the public can view the collection at the Musée Rodin starting January 27, where Anderson’s work sits in dialogue with Christian Dior’s archive and Magdalene Odundo’s ceramics in a bid to demystify the couture process
Jonathan Anderson views the oldest fashion house in Paris not as a monument, but as a living system. His debut haute couture collection for Dior bypasses the usual reverence for the archive, instead positioning the atelier as a place of experimentation where time-honoured techniques are protected only by being aggressively reworked.
This approach manifests as a wunderkammer, a collection of curiosities where the designer gathers materials marked by the passage of time. He cuts into 18th-century fabrics and manipulates fossils, treating these historically dense objects as raw catalysts for modern function rather than precious artifacts to be kept behind glass.
The resulting shapes mirror the organic, anthropomorphic curves found in the ceramic work of Magdalene Odundo. Anderson creates a dialogue between these clay forms and the body, draping fabric to magnify curves and allowing lines to flow sinuously across structured silhouettes.
That fluidity extends to the botanical influences, which carry a heavy dose of fashion lore. Former Creative Director John Galliano gifted Anderson bunches of freshly gathered cyclamen as a poetic baton of creative continuity, a gesture the new director transmuted into the clothes themselves.
The atelier rendered these blooms through a lens of extreme scale manipulation. Artisans cut realistic flowers from light silks, miniaturized them into dense embroideries, and layered shredded chiffon and organza to mimic the texture of feathers.
This interest in texture brings a surprising material into the couture fold: knitwear. Anderson introduces knits to the high-fashion lexicon to expand the vocabulary of the house, pairing these softer elements with balloon tops veiled in net.
The hands that wear these garments now have something new to hold, as the house debuts molded handbags in a couture context. These are sculptural objects made from ornamental stones and colorful lacquer, with some featuring rare, embroidered 18th-century French textiles and patchworks that reimagine icons like the Lady Dior.
Heritage fabrics also make their way down to the floor. The footwear range, spanning mules, flats, and pumps, incorporates those same antique French textiles alongside trompe-l’oeil scale effects and fluffy yarns, all grounded by upturned square toes that reference an archival design by Roger Vivier.
The ornamentation moves from the feet to the lapel with a focus on 18th-century miniatures. Anderson takes oval works by artists like Rosalba Carriera and John Smart and repurposes them as brooches framed in pearls, while chunky cuffs crafted from meteorite fragments act as extraterrestrial witnesses to the collection.
These fragments of history and future-facing designs converge at the Musée Rodin. From January 27, the Grammar of Forms exhibition places Anderson’s new work alongside Odundo’s sculptures and Christian Dior’s original creations, opening the doors of the couture world to the public for a single week.
