Dior's Jonathan Anderson presented a high-concept haute couture collection at Paris Fashion Week, drawing inspiration from American sculptor Lynda Benglis. The collection, shown in a wooden pavilion in the gardens of the Rodin Museum, explored how clothing transforms fabric into sculpture, echoing Benglis's sensual, slumped metal works.
Anderson stays mum on Swift's wedding dress
Despite the buzz around Taylor Swift's unrevealed wedding dress, which Anderson designed, he refused to divulge details. 'It was a big honour,' he said. 'But no, I can't tell you anything about it. It will all come out in due course. It was a joy to work with her and we became very good friends. It is an emotional thing, doing someone's wedding.'
Sculptural silhouettes and molten effects
The collection featured a skirt of silver-foiled petals that shimmered like molten lava, and a tailored Bar jacket with chiffon threads trailing at the hem like drips of ice-cream. Anderson referenced Benglis's 1974 self-portrait Centrefold, though the image was blurred out in the show notes to avoid offending potential clients. 'I think she's a genius. She was well before her time – before anyone's time,' Anderson said.
Razzmatazz with a sideways bent
Anderson's strategy of re-energising Dior with offbeat creative energy is paying off. The front row included Sabrina Carpenter in a coquettish ivory lace cocktail dress and Josh O'Connor in a deconstructed sheer blazer. The first look was a floppy satin shirt with black plisse trousers, an oversized shearling shawl, and an acorn-shaped bonnet, evoking a downtown gallery opening.
Pure glamour came in a silver lamé bustier dress with an outsize bow, a peach silk evening gown with a cowl back, and a sculpted hourglass jacket in silk jacquard embossed with ferns. The finale wedding dress, a strapless pearl column veiled in hand-pleated chiffon with white feather dandelions and embroidered cactus flowers, was spectacular but not the one everyone wanted to see.
