Jonathan Anderson has the fashion world in the palm of his hand.
He can do whatever he wants and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. He can work for Dior and work with Uniqlo, simultaneously. He can make the most complex clothes — clothes which verge on wearable art — yet dress a relatively mundane manner, wearing sneakers, jeans, and a T-shirt or crewneck. He can create a trend out of nothing; outside shows this season, I’ve seen a plethora of slim, buttoned military jackets with frogging or similar embroidered details, just like what Anderson showed for Dior’s Spring-Summer 2026 collection. And now, for Fall-Winter 2026, he’s making Dior punk.
When Anderson was appointed to helm Dior, many were curious how a designer who revels in ruffling feathers would fare at a house whose codes — from cannage to dress lines and jacket shapes — are sacred. How far would he have to rein things in? Two menswear shows in, the answer is pretty clear: not at all.
The last thing I expected to see as I took my seat within the show space at the Musée Rodin was exactly what I was confronted with when the first model made his entrance: a sequined purple tank top, skinny jeans fit for Slimane-era Dior Homme, D-shaped snakeskin boots. Where was I? A shock of yellow hair worn in a mullet was on the head of the third model, who also sported a sequined tank, this time in silver. There were large, drab green jackets that called to mind military-issue sleeping bags and big, billowing cargo jeans.
But there were also polos with jewel-encrusted epaulets, cropped Bar jackets and tailcoats, some of which looked particularly cozy, rendered as chunky knits. These things all felt more Dior. And, yet, they were juxtaposed with elements that weren’t necessarily innately chic — which is undoubtedly the word that comes to mind with Dior. For example, a Bar jacket in a dark houndstooth, with fringed edges and paired with cargo denim, giving it a grungy feel; or, a charcoal tailcoat tuxedo, worn with snakeskin D-shape loafers; a purple Donegal suit that wasn’t a suit at all, as the trousers and jacket were just slightly different in their hue; the aforementioned blingy epaulets affixed to a tartan shirt.
It wasn’t supposed to make sense and the seemingly disparate pairings brought a subversive edge to the collection. To me, that’s very punk. Though perhaps not even Anderson can get the words punk and Dior together on an official press release, preferring to instead paint a picture of an imagined “aristo-youth,” modern day flâneurs inspired by the couturier Paul Poiret, just as Monsieur Dior had been inspired by Poiret’s worldly, liberating couture.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
DIOR WINTER 2026-2027
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIOR.
Outside of one technical jacket that closed the show and some extremely subtle shirt pockets, there were no Dior wordmarks, this after it still appeared on many a sweater and jacket for Spring-Summer 2026. It’s part of what seems to be a broader shift away from the bold, braggadocio of recent years. This was not the first show to offer something stealthier. Nor was it the first to have a slightly subversive edge to it, which thrived on the juxtaposition of the formal and the luxurious with the mundane. But this was Jonathan Anderson giving it his stamp of approval. And right now, in fashion, that means everything.
After a decade where luxury was defined by flaunting who you were wearing, Anderson’s Dior is offering a new take, where affluence doesn’t announce itself quite as loudly. Just don’t let anybody see the epaulets.
