Jonathan Anderson Makes His Dior Debut

In Berlin at the Gemäldegalerie, Jonathan Anderson made his debut as the creative director of Dior’s men’s collection with an exciting Spring/Summer 2026 collection. Hosting the show inside a museum was a choice the designer made with intention, surrounded by art that channeled times and values passed, yet with messages that live on. In the velvet-lined room, two paintings by Jean Siméon Chardin hang on the walls.

For Anderson, this was a significant artist and bounce-off point for the latest line, as Chardin was a painter who cherished the everyday moments of life—less concerned with excess and status as a spectacle and more interested in sincerity and authenticity. This kind of conversation was exactly what Anderson challenged, linking historical art to contemporary fashion, and to the art of getting dressed around the world.

Jonathan Anderson’s New Language for Dior

Spring/Summer 2026 was less of a reinvention and more of a Dior decoding, as Anderson is so well known to do. Digging into the Dior archive and pulling out bits of heritage is how he gained inspiration to create something new. Immediately, we saw that with a V-neck Dior sweater adorned with the elegant Dior label front and center; with Bar jackets reimagined as band jackets; and with reimagined neck ties that wrapped around the neck, thick and tied in a loose bow. The tailcoat, often a symbol of status, is reborn here, too, with lightness, suggesting both ceremony and freedom. 

Aside from embroidery of roses, Diorette charms, and takes on classic Dior dresses—the Delft, Caprice, and La Cigale—calling upon feminine references, a new item that commanded our attention from the start were cargo pant culottes, sprawling and seen in many colors. It encouraged us to think about what dressing for today meant, and for whom it’s for. The result was an ode to what Anderson calls “joy in the art of dressing.” 

Empathy as Elegance

As models walked to music by Frédéric Sanchez, a subtle undercurrent ran throughout the collection, and it wasn’t about unattainable luxury; it was about empathy as a design code. “Style is a way to hold oneself,” the press notes said. And with that, Anderson proposes a Dior man who dresses not to dominate or dazzle, but to become his something, whether it’s his true self, a character, or even a conversation.

Accessories reflected this rethinking of identity and imagination. The iconic Dior Book Tote became a literal homage to literature, featuring book covers of Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, created in collaboration with Les Saints Pères. A crossbody bag pays tribute to Dracula by Bram Stoker, adding a gothic touch to the otherwise serene palette. Meanwhile, the Lady Dior bag—long the symbol of feminine refinement—is reinvented with the help of artist Sheila Hicks. It’s swathed in a flurry of linen ponytails, each one a nod to the organic and the handmade.

Reverence and Rupture

Anderson’s approach is layered with dualities. Reverence sits beside rebellion; historical rigor is tempered with irreverence. The silhouettes nod to aristocracy, but there’s a looseness in how they’re styled, with layers worn slightly undone, and tailoring that’s structured but not rigid. The aristocrat, in Anderson’s world, is less a figure of inherited privilege and more an imagined persona. We can all dress up to play them. 

Toward the Horizon

“Stretching the horizon” is how Anderson framed the Dior presentation, and the phrase is apt. What Anderson has done is expand the boundaries of what Dior Men can be—not by erasing the past, but by tenderly unbuttoning it, trying it on in new ways, and letting it breathe. It’s loose, it’s fun, and it’s evolving. In the end, this is a collection that doesn’t shout. It listens, observes, and invites us in—to a museum gallery, to view a new collection, and to reimagine what’s always been there.