Jonathan Anderson will design all the Dior collections

One word is striking in the press release issued this morning by the Maison Dior to finally announce, after months and months of speculation, gossip and indiscretions, the appointment of Jonathan Anderson as artistic director of the women's, men's and couture collections - the first time this has happened since Monsieur Dior himself - of the most dazzling gem in the portfolio of LVMH, the world's largest luxury group, with over 81 billion in revenues in 2024: the word is empathy. It is striking because empathy is a necessary quality as ever, but one that is largely neglected, if not vilified, in today's world, from the fashion microcosm to the highest systems - thank you, Elon Musk; it makes one reflect because empathy is not a character that can be immediately and minimally associated with the current work of this titanic and algid maison nor, one might say, with the work, so far, of its new artistic director. We are, of course, talking about affixes referring to the work, not the people.

As it may be, the word seems to herald a welcome change of pace, and to confirm that Anderson, forty years old, the brightest talent of his generation, just as ambitious, does not intend to proceed by formulae, like too many of his colleagues who do the same thing everywhere they go, with a different tag, but to reflect on the specificities of the brand in order to evolve it. Anderson joined the group eleven years ago, when he took over the creative direction of Loewe, transforming an august but dusty house into a cultural brand that has revitalised the idea of craft and handmade in a modern way, skipping the reactionary rhetoric of fake craft and becoming what is most interesting on the market at the moment. That Anderson's skills needed a bigger workshop and more munificent means was obvious, and the move to Dior almost consequential.

The affinity is there: the architecture of forms, the purity that does not exclude decoration; a certain androgyny. With prestige, however, the level of the challenge increases: if at Loewe, in fact, Anderson was able to invent a language from scratch, at Dior he will have to grapple with deep-rooted codes, faced by all his predecessors. The commercial success of the work of Maria Grazia Chiuri, his predecessor on the women's and couture collections, then immediately imposed on him the need to get the formula right. Vision and temperament are not lacking in him, and this bodes well. The wait in any case is short: on 27 June, the men's fashion show, and then as early as September the women's.

CHRISTIAN DIOR COUTURE ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF JONATHAN ANDERSON

AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF ALL WOMEN'S, MEN'S, AND HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTIONS OF THE HOUSE