Jonathan Anderson - Designer, Creative Director of JW Anderson & Christian Dior

[Creative]

Finally! He is the only real creative director left, so happy for him! Can’t wait to see what he does.

Sad he starts with men though… not grand enough.

 

[Xone]

Antoine Arnault salute

 

[TomBlanksFullFatMiuMiu]

Antoine Arnault salute

In the game of succession, he would support a sister from the same mother of course

 

[Lola701]

I’m happy for him.
Of course, it’s not a new info but now that it’s official, it’s great.

I think he has everything that is needed for a house of Dior. He has ideas, a commercial sense, a sense of fashion and he is versatile.

Part of the secret in being able to stay for a long time at a brand is to be versatile. I think his Loewe was fantastic. And it’s a it of testament to him that Loewe became a huge hit towards the end of his tenure.

I have never been more excited for Dior.
And finally, all the women working at Dior will maybe stop looking like Housewives and more like fashion people.

I’m actually excited that he starts with menswear because Dior Homme is lacking in terms of statement. I’m really curious to see how he may introduce that idea again.

And I’m so glad that he is using the old Dior logo again!
I hated the Fabien Baron designed one…

I am sure he is cheaper than MGC + Kim Jones combine

He is a higher profile joining Dior than they were when they both joined Dior.
Loewe is bigger than Valentino.
So he is getting more than both of them. His bonuses are probably going to be crazy.

The goal of LVMH is really make Dior be as big as Hermes in size. There’s a lot at stake here, more than when MGC took over in a way.

 

[CholoChic]

Will Mr. Anderson be able to overcome Galliano's curse?

 

[TomBlanksFullFatMiuMiu]

Will Mr. Anderson be able to overcome Galliano's curse?

if he sends out the same look 8 times

 

[chalayan]

Will Mr. Anderson be able to overcome Galliano's curse?

lvmh could scour the earth and they still wouldn't be able to find a more compatible designer than john was for dior. every successor is doomed to toil under his immense shadow. and while his last three or four years there may have looked like literal sh*t from a butt, the first ten years (1997-2007) were pure fashion magic. inimitable, enviable fashion magic.

 

[brandon J pierre]

lvmh could scour the earth and they still wouldn't be able to find a more compatible designer than john was for dior. every successor is doomed to toil under his immense shadow. and while his last three or four years there may have looked like literal sh*t from a butt, the first ten years (1997-2007) were pure fashion magic. inimitable, enviable fashion magic.

Image-wise yes you are correct but money-wise Maria save the Day

 

[BalkaniStaCouture]

You compare Galliano with JW???

 

[chalayan]

Image-wise yes you are correct but money-wise Maria save the Day

if galliano had returned to dior with a new line of it-bags and saddle spin-offs, i can almost guarantee you would've seen sales skyrocket.

 

[Nimsay]

Im not sure if JWs look can support Dior. I think he’s perfect at DH - which has been dead since the middle of KVAs tenure.

 

[oioioi]

We don't need to compare the two, they're two creative directors from two completely different time periods/eras/ways of working - for a house that has developed and served different needs in each of those periods. They're both very talented for different reasons.
Galliano is great at putting on a theatrical show, and superb in dressmaking skills but there are not tons of people with Renzo's 'entrepreneurial spirit' like at Margiela where they went into heavy losses for 7 years with John to allow him the creative freedom and work at a pace he was comfortable at - they even lowered the sale's targets for his first men's collections so he could 'meet' them and allow him to feel comfortable mentally with the figures. There he took a 2 year break between a couple of Men's shows, between Couture, took 4 years to decide the bottle cap on the Margiela Mutiny perfume. Renzo put the pressure on MM6, the Replica perfume lines and collabs like Gentle Monster x MM and Louboutin x MM to try recoup some of the costs. If he is not comfortable there why would he be comfortable at Dior now? The brand is not where it was in 1997, and we can be happy for John to do something else creatively fulfilling.

 

[Lola701]

if galliano had returned to dior with a new line of it-bags and saddle spin-offs, i can almost guarantee you would've seen sales skyrocket.

Or the total opposite.
John at Dior prior to his exit was on a slow decline. Beyond his personal issues, I think he needed a new air.

I think it’s also a reality that some fans should accept. John peaked. He made us dream. Now we should just be grateful that he design and can express himself. That obsession for him to have « sales skyrocket » when we know what it could mean in terms of personal investment for a designer is crazy.

I hope that at 64, Galliano has others goals as a designer than turning a huge brand into a bigger brand. Creative freedom and expression is what we should wish for him, not it bags and his old hits rehashed.

Dior has moved on. Galliano has moved on. We should be able to also move on.

It’s like people talking about Tom Ford going back to Gucci. It was done 20 years ago. We should move on!

 

[chalayan]

Or the total opposite.
John at Dior prior to his exit was on a slow decline. Beyond his personal issues, I think he needed a new air.

I think it’s also a reality that some fans should accept. John peaked. He made us dream. Now we should just be grateful that he design and can express himself. That obsession for him to have « sales skyrocket » when we know what it could mean in terms of personal investment for a designer is crazy.

I hope that at 64, Galliano has others goals as a designer than turning a huge brand into a bigger brand. Creative freedom and expression is what we should wish for him, not it bags and his old hits rehashed.

Dior has moved on. Galliano has moved on. We should be able to also move on.

It’s like people talking about Tom Ford going back to Gucci. It was done 20 years ago. We should move on!

i think we're all aware that fashion has moved on. you would do well to remember that this is all conjecture and merely hypothetical, for the sake of an argument about an AD's commercial viability. if you think, as you say, that the opposite is true, then you must be very out of touch with what luxury consumers are looking for in 2025.

 

[DK92]

At this point I don't think I can expect any really perfect collection, but I just want a good budget for good campaigns and top models back at Dior!

 

[Lola701]

i think we're all aware that fashion has moved on. you would do well to remember that this is all conjecture and merely hypothetical, for the sake of an argument about an AD's commercial viability. if you think, as you say, that the opposite is true, then you must be very out of touch with what luxury consumers are looking for in 2025.

But maybe it’s also time for fashion to start create a desire and not looking for what consumers are looking for in 2025.
Because the current wave and interest for vintage and rehashing old things is precisely that and you can’t substain an industry with that.

Because once John comes back to Dior, redo versions of the Saddle, The Malice…etc. What does it bring in terms of statement? What does it says about fashion today and what are the perspective for the future if even our legends cannot try to push things forward?

And from my perspective of a customer, my sole perspective, what i want is fashion forward. I want to want to buy things or brands I didn’t know I would be excited to.

Much like John introduced Dior to another generation. He created a desire, without responding to what people want. Because ultimately, customers are somewhat always conservative. So it’s matter of balance always.
The success of John was that balance he played well in his early days. Then he was able to go crazy and distance himself from Dior.

On paper customers did not want that. But it attracted new customers until he went too far and that the executives feared it would jeopardize Dior’s image.

 

[rowjellies]

Credits to writer Mario Abad for flagging

Conflicting reports on whether or not JW label is on hold (BOF vs NYT)

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

I am indifferent to this.

Me too.
I thought I would be excited but I don't care.
One decade of absolute mediocrity has killed the mystique of this house for me.
I am not even consuming their cosmethics. Stopped buying the Privé fragrances five years ago (also because their quality had worsened).

 

[Nimsay]

yes. Delfinas tenure has been characterized by a cheapening of product. ultimately driving the scandals that have gutted Diors top selling handbag reputation… anyone can make money being an antisocial genius. Its not hard to make money cutting corners like anyone can do that.

My concern with JWA is that his apparent closeness to Deltina means he won’t push back at her obvious efforts to continue cheating the product.

I dont even know why the person who oversaw what everyone thinks is the Great Depression of dior and the great book tote crash should continue having any say over dior.

 

[Lola701]

Me too.
I thought I would be excited but I don't care.
One decade of absolute mediocrity has killed the mystique of this house for me.
I am not even consuming their cosmethics. Stopped buying the Privé fragrances five years ago (also because their quality had worsened).

I hope JWA will have a voice on it too overtime because indeed, Dior parfums is a bit of a mess.
I think Pietro Beccari did a fantastic job restructuring Dior as a company and establishing it as a lifestyle powerhouse but their fragrances are so weird.

The quality issue is a bit not necessarily 100% on their part for the perfumes but they have definitely cheapened the perception of their fragrances with the number of flankers, of lines, of discontinued.
It’s a bit similar to what Estée Lauder is doing right now with Tom Ford fragrances…

There was a time when they copied on Chanel so maybe they should go back to that. Yes, a lot of European laws don’t make it easier to make perfumes the way were made years ago but a level of consistency can still be maintained.
You can’t possibly source the best ingredients if on top of climate change and European laws, you continuously produce more flankers and more and more fragrances.

On that he did a great job for Loewe perfumes even though it’s of course less important in terms of numbers than Dior.