Dior<\/a> references of his inaugural show last June, he looked instead to the couturier who originally put Avenue Montaigne on the map: Paul Poiret.<\/p>\n\n\tNestled amid the pavement stones in front of Dior\u2019s historic headquarters on the exclusive artery, there\u2019s a mosaic plaque dedicated to Poiret, a marketing genius known for his experimental approach to construction.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe parallels with Anderson are obvious. Less obvious is how this historic designer\u2019s draped forms and Orientalist sensibilities mesh with Dior\u2019s architectural approach to tailoring \u2014 not to mention the fact that neither ever designed for men.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s precisely this paradox that set Anderson\u2019s fashion antenna tingling. \u201cI kind of like this idea of these two out-of-character landscapes meeting,\u201d he said in a preview. \u201cDior put the structure in, Poiret took it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHis starting point was a purple Poiret dress he acquired from a vintage dealer. It was the inspiration for the opening trio of sequined vests paired with jeans that set the tone for this psychedelic-flavored collection. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThink jacquard pants in electric color combinations, cocoon-like jackets, and polo shirts with sparkling military epaulets. A pair of classic tailored coats was pimped up with chunky shearling cuffs and draped in Art Deco-patterned brocade, woven in Italy by Poiret\u2019s original suppliers. A bronze parka sprouted 3D flowers.<\/p>\n
\n\tThrough Anderson\u2019s looking glass, tailoring took on topsy-turvy proportions. The hourglass curves on shrunken Bar jackets, in houndstooth wool or distressed denim, jutted off just below the armpit, while tailcoats in cable knit and beefy shearling blurred the boundaries of formalwear.<\/p>\n
\n\tWith their fluorescent yellow wigs, massive down coats and asymmetric wrap skirts, some of the models looked like they had strayed from a Junya Watanabe runway. Anderson instead pointed to his predecessor John Galliano, who also referenced Poiret in his Dior collections.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDior is about fashion. It never started as a leather goods brand,\u201d he noted. \u201cIt has the history of fashion in it, with geniuses like John that created moments of spectacle, which I think people want from the brand. They want theatrics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was the kind of ballsy move that can leave you hanging off a cliff, cementing Anderson\u2019s reputation as a risk-taker, even as he ascends to new summits. \u201cDior is not going to be a predictable silhouette. I never work that way,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the moment, I am on a search for having fun with clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tStill, he made sure to balance the lineup with solidly commercial pieces, like tweed suits with subtly tilted shoulders, glittery knits and loose-fitting jeans. Early feedback from stores, where his first looks dropped on Jan. 2, has been positive. \u201cIt\u2019s doing very well. Everyone\u2019s very happy,\u201d Anderson reported.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI feel like we\u2019re moving at speed here for quite a big machine, and it\u2019s exciting, because you don\u2019t want it to be scripted. I think that\u2019s the problem: the minute something works, then it\u2019s the same every season, and by the time that people are bored of it, you need to change quickly, because if not, how do you get people to tune in again?\u201d he asked. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAnderson may be on to something: several guests sported the pleated white collars he sent out as show invitations, suggesting that where the designer leads, diehards will always follow. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Call it the fashion version of extreme mountaineering. No sooner has Jonathan Anderson scaled one peak \u2014 presenting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12728],"tags":[2793,3551,5543,15329,12724,4955,16024],"class_list":["post-23365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-dior","tag-christian-dior","tag-dior","tag-fall","tag-fashion-show-reviews","tag-jonathan-anderson","tag-lvmh","tag-paris-fashion-week-mens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}