I wanted to opine on my two favorite shows as of late… would you indulge me?
With this collection, it really does feel like Anderson has finally found his visual language, and at last, he’s speaking it fluently.
I’ve been a fan of JWA’s Dior since he arrived at the house, but not everyone has shared my enthusiasm. And, to be fair, he’s given us some less than approachable propositions during his tenure: absurdist cargo shorts, exaggerated suiting, cravats, the works. But beneath all of it, there has always been an unmistakable sophistication to the world Anderson has been building. Something like a less severe Raf Simons crossed with Miuccia Prada.
The clothes have soul. They have a kind of refined intelligence. I’ve written about it before, but everything Anderson does at Dior feels designed for a very particular sort of person: a chic aristocrat with impeccable taste and, presumably, a family castle somewhere in the countryside. These are garments that insist on being seriously unserious—and somehow, that’s what makes them so serious.
There’s something particularly enticing about the oxymorons at play here. Anderson gives us visually heavy plaids and busy prints, but constructs them with an airiness that makes everything feel almost weightless. The clothes move. They breathe. There’s a wink in nearly every look, but it never tips into triteness.
And, importantly, there’s no sense of callous irony or obnoxious pseudo-intellectualism. Anderson’s humor feels genuinely affectionate. There’s an innocence to the clothes that keeps all of the cleverness from becoming cynical.
More than anything, Anderson seems to be in the pocket with this collection. He isn’t trying to convince us of his vision anymore; he’s simply operating within it. There’s a confidence and comfort here that wasn’t necessarily as apparent before, and it makes all the difference.
JWA at Dior finally feels less like a designer explaining what he wants to do and more like a designer who already knows.
And honestly? That’s when things get interesting.
