Dior and Chanel's Organic Fantasy
While watching both the Chanel and Dior Couture shows, I found myself struck by a throughline in Matthieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson's work.
There is a shared language of organic fantasy between the two designers. At first, I called it a kind of natural whimsy. But that didn't feel quite right. It wasn't reverent enough.
This was more than fanciful imagination. It was an attempt to make something concrete out of experiences that are almost impossible to hold onto. Both designers seem to ask the same questions: How do you show someone a memory? How do you make the feeling of the pastoral tactile?
With these collections, they each offer an answer.
What I loved most was that both collections were rooted in images of nature and the outdoors, yet interpreted that inspiration in completely different ways.
Anderson is no stranger to blending fashion with the living world. For his Spring/Summer 2023 menswear collection at Loewe, he famously sent models down the runway with real plants sprouting from their garments, like the world's most luxurious chia pets.
This time, the approach feels more restrained. Rather than literal vegetation, Anderson relies on hyperreal illusion. Ferns and grasses appear to emerge from sleeves and coat hems, while skirts and blouses seem woven entirely from wildflowers. Nature isn't simply referenced. It's seamlessly fused into the garments themselves.
Blazy approaches the same idea from the opposite direction, embracing costume, theater, and just the right amount of camp. We see scarecrows, twisting vines, oversized flowers that look lifted from a film prop department, and what resembles an Impressionist interpretation of a straw skirt suit.
He's no stranger to tasteful tackiness or the joy of dressing up. Since arriving at Chanel, he's already sent mermaids down the runway for Cruise 2026/27 and Superman-inspired looks through the Métiers d'Art 2026 collection. Fantasy has become part of his design vocabulary.
What ultimately makes both collections so compelling is their sincerity. Neither designer treats fantasy as a joke or relies on irony. The references never become parody. Instead, every flourish feels intentional, thoughtful, and emotionally grounded.
They're not simply recreating nature. They're recreating the feeling of remembering it.
Organic illusions draped over timeless silhouettes become less about decoration and more about emotion. In both collections, nature isn't something to wear. It's something to feel.
DIOR
Organic illusions on classic silhouettes
CHANEL
A sartorial story of passive rewilding
