Jonathan Anderson built his first Dior couture collection on memories

Jonathan Anderson has probably never seen a single meme about his work at Dior, nor noticed that viral video of him sleeping while standing up. I assume he simply never had the time. Just five days ago he presented Dior’s menswear collection in Paris, and today he delivered to the audience what has been awaited with the greatest anticipation since he took on the role of creative director, his first haute couture collection.

Related: Jonathan Anderson’s latest Dior collection proposes a new definition of luxury

Excitement ahead of the Paris show built gradually, reaching its peak a few hours before the runway began. Social media was sharing images of the invitation to Anderson’s first couture presentation for Dior, while the designer himself was generous with hints. He explained that he built the collection around “artifacts and materials that carry memory, function, or previous meaning,” and three days before the show he shared an emotional story on his Instagram about a gesture by John Galliano, a former creative director of Dior, who gave him two bouquets of cyclamen tied with a black ribbon just before his first womenswear collection.

Although flowers in spring collections are not groundbreaking, Anderson gave them far more than a decorative role. For him, flowers are carriers of memories and emotional support from the person he considers a role model. He offered further clues to his inspiration by mentioning an iron meteorite found in Morocco, which he reportedly incorporated into jewelry, as well as the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. His 2007 series of large black-and-white photographs, Stylized Sculpture, explores the history of fashion through the lens of the human body dressed in “artificial skin,” which the author observes as a contemporary sculpture. The series features garments by designers such as John Galliano and Yves Saint Laurent, showing how the evolution of fashion is intertwined with social change and history. Floral forms, details, and textures, as well as the sculptural quality of the garments, are evident in Anderson’s couture collection for Dior, along with references to his predecessors and to the womenswear collection he presented in October. Instead of drama, he chose continuity, continuing to build on ideas from his first collections. Some will say there were even “traces of Loewe,” but that is simply Anderson.

Below, take a look at some of the looks from the Dior haute couture collection for spring 2026: