11 Things to Know About Jonathan Anderson, Dior’s New Creative Director

Jonathan Anderson is formally the inventive director of Dior, regardless that it hasn’t been an easy street. The clothier introduced his departure from Loewe again in March, and his appointment because the inventive director of Dior Homme in April. Now, the circle has been finished. With Maria Grazia Chiuri’s go out from the French logo, Anderson can take over the entire operation—women’s, males’s, and high fashion. But regardless of Anderson’s lengthy tenure at Loewe—in addition to his luck on his eponymous line JW Anderson and his common Uniqlo collaborations—Dior catapults him to a completely new stratum. Considering he’s about to take over one of the crucial greatest manufacturers in type, it sort of feels suitable to comb up on Anderson, so we’ve created a truth sheet on the whole lot you want to find out about Dior’s new inventive director.

He comes from a circle of relatives of rugby gamers.

Anderson’s father, Willie, used to be a celebrity rugby participant who performed for Ireland between 1984 and 1990. His brother, Thomas, additionally performed, even though he ultimately left the sector of sports activities to pursue a occupation in legislation and operations for JW Anderson. Jonathan, regardless that, didn’t inherit his circle of relatives’s rugby prowess. “Growing up, I was never very good at rugby—I didn’t really enjoy it,” he stated in a private essay for The Gloss. “I did a bit of swimming.” Luckily, Willie by no means driven his son to observe in his footsteps. “I never felt a pressure to be sporty or anything like that; our household was never that kind of system,” the clothier stated. In truth, it sort of feels there are some advantages to Anderson’s sport-adjacent upbringing as he has discovered many commonalities between the sector of sports activities and type. “It’s this idea of teamwork, of coaching people,” he stated. “In a weird way I compare myself to a captain of a team because you’re trying to influence people to do something.”

He has dyslexia.

Anderson used to be recognized with the dysfunction when he used to be in number one faculty. In July 2024, when the clothier gained an honorary stage from the University for the Creative Arts, he spread out about his revel in as a scholar and the way dyslexia affected him. “I was probably not the best student,” he stated, consistent with WWD. “Learning helped me to express myself…Be careful with the advice you get, and be aware it comes from someone else’s experience, ignore all of the above: rules are useless.”

He first of all sought after to be an actor.

Before he sought after to be a clothier, Anderson used to be keen on performing. When he used to be 18, he moved to Washington DC for drama faculty. “It took studying drama to realize it wasn’t for me,” he stated. While he used to be there, regardless that, Anderson become buddies with anyone within the dress division. “I spent lots of time with him instead of going to rehearsals, and he taught me everything important about American designers,” the clothier informed L’Etiquette. “He ignited that passion in me.”

He was once obsessive about James Dean.

The passion started when Anderson moved to DC. “I think I read every single book on him,” he informed The Cut in 2022. “The sexual ambiguity, the look—to the point where I dressed like that. I think I took up smoking because of him. He was quite sadistic and twisted in a way.”

He used to be as soon as a shopboy.

When Anderson ran out of cash in DC, he moved to Dublin the place he were given a task promoting menswear on the division retailer Brown Thomas. He started doing visible vending for the shop and dressing the mannequins. One day, a rep from Prada got here in and noticed his show which combined Prada Sport with the primary line. “He was a bit taken aback, but he loved what I’d done,” Anderson informed L’Etiquette. Eventually, Anderson enrolled on the London School of Fashion and took a task at Prada to pay his manner via. “My job was to take delivery of the merchandise, put it out in the store, and dress the windows,” he stated. “It was there, in that setting, that I realized I could do it, that I belonged in that world.”

His first corporate went bankrupt.

In 2005, when Anderson used to be 21, he left his activity at Prada and began his personal label. Not JW Anderson. This one simply produced equipment for “shitty stores,” as he places it. “I mainly knitted scarves and accessories,” Anderson recalled. “We also made brooches. Well, we’d stick a feather on a knitted sweater and then sell it like that.” In addition to his label, Anderson labored on some non permanent contracts, together with for Lee Jeans, a task for which he spent a month in India. Eventually, regardless that, the label went bankrupt. “I just remember the computers were seized by a bailiff,” he stated. “He also took the fabrics and the orders.”

He designed for Versace.

Well, technically Versus Versace. Anderson created a suite for the Versace diffusion line with Donatella in simply 3 weeks. “It was a weird collection with bags made of sticky tape that you could cut and fasten to your neck, but it worked,” he stated.

His fall 2013 display for JW Anderson used to be a turning level.

Anderson has known as it the “show that literally changed everything.” The clothier despatched males down the runway in ruffled shorts, strapless tops, or even clothes. It used to be in truth a reasonably easy assortment, made out of handiest 3 materials. Anderson used to be making an attempt to problem the speculation of masculinity, however he by no means imagined the gathering would make as a lot noise because it did. Daily Mail stated Anderson humiliated the fashions, however the assortment is now considered a significant second within the evolution of genderless type. For his section, Anderson considers it “the best collection we ever did,” as he informed 032c. “I don’t care what people say…when I look back at that collection, it did something. Because I felt like it didn’t compromise, and it was really arrogant as fuck. And I think that’s what was so important in that moment.”

So used to be Loewe spring/summer season 2022.

If we’re taking a look again at Anderson’s occupation to this point in collections, it’s necessary to additionally notice his spring/summer season 2022 presentation for Loewe. Anderson emerged from the pandemic with a suite that used to be as whimsical and surreal because it used to be elegant. Six deceptively easy column clothes opened the display, adopted by way of jersey clothes with steel breastplates, chiffon balloon pants, and the go back of ruffles lining holes within the skirts of clothes that totally recontextualized the slit. Sarah Mower of Vogue known as it “a massive creative change,” and, taking a look again, the gathering used to be a touch of what used to be to come back from Anderson’s maximum prolific time at Loewe.

He’s a collector.

In 2017, Anderson based the Loewe Craft Prize, which seeks out and helps artists with a definite imaginative and prescient and style for innovation. The Prize added to the present paintings of the Loewe Foundation, based in 1988 with the purpose of supporting the humanities. When Anderson joined the group, he targeted the Foundation’s narrative and made Loewe one of the crucial trade’s biggest buyers of artists and craftsmen. Anderson’s improve of craft acts as a herbal extension of his pursuits. He is referred to as an avid collector, particularly of British studio potters of the postwar generation, amongst different issues.

“It’s a passion of mine,” he informed W in 2017. “I collect craft. It inspires me. And creatively, it’s important to give back. I wouldn’t be in the situation that I am without a prize.” For 8 years, the Prize has awarded unsung artisans with the 2025 winner receiving €50,000 and all 30 finalists getting an opportunity to show off their paintings on the Palais de Tokyo.

He’s a dressing up clothier.

Of path, you most probably know that. Anderson created the costumes for Luca Guadagnino’s two contemporary movies, Challengers and Queer. “He’s so savvy about the history of the silhouette,” Guadagnino informed W about his determination to faucet Anderson for the activity. “…I am in awe of Jonathan’s capacity to immerse himself in the story and the characters.” As for Anderson, he stated of Queer, “I’ve never worked on a creative project that has changed me more, that has completely changed so many aspects of my life. I find it the most generous project to have worked on.”