Vivaldi’s Concerto In F Minor rang out in the halls of the Museé Rodin today, as Jonathan Anderson’s debut couture collection for Dior took its first exit under a canopy of delicate purple cyclamen flowers. For the house of Dior, a floral motif is perhaps one of the most significant homages to Monsieur Dior we have today. The reference to Christian Dior’s love for gardens and his “flower woman” silhouette is the same reason Raf Simons covered the walls of his show space with one million fresh flowers for his debut haute couture show in 2012. The floral variety is specifically significant to Anderson, who sent out invitations accompanied by posies of cyclamen—the same posy that John Galliano gave Anderson when he first saw his debut womenswear collection last year. For Anderson’s spectacular first foray into couture, the immediate tribute to Monsieur Dior’s legacy and those who have come before felt entirely emblematic of the collection that followed.
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The first three exits were a clever extension of what we saw play out at Spring/Summer 2026: pleated bubble dresses with structured crinolines that had been elongated for couture. Each model balanced a string of lilac orchids on her shoulder, a motif that would continue for almost all 63 exits. If it wasn’t an orchid, it was twin bunches of cyclamen in varying pinks and whites positioned just below the lobe of the ear. Were they earrings or hair accessories?
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The collection was conceived with the word “wunderkammer” in mind, translating to “cabinet of curiosities” in German. The aim, then, was to create a collection of pieces that encapsulated the beauty of couture. Anderson achieved this through an eclectic offering. There were intricately draped tops and skirts made of shingled feathers, silk layered ruffle monochromatic mini dresses that mimicked petals, intricately beaded, watery column dresses with georgette appliqué—one model carried a giant leaf-like an umbrella—the silhouette not dissimilar to what we’ve seen from Maria Grazia Chiuri in the past. A riff on Raf appeared in look 18, nodding to look 47 of his 2012 couture collection: a white structured dress with tiny appliqué florals covering the entirety of the structure. Then it was a case of interpreting the house’s New Look silhouette through Anderson’s whimsical lens.
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This appeared via a mini dress with exaggerated hips made of scalloped iridescent feathers, a bar jacket in pale blue embroidered silk whose hem had been cropped and turned outwards, a leather jacket with a structured waist that sat above the hips, and textural injections of Dior grey in knitted dresses and wool coats. Even after diving through all of these references, this Dior couture was distinctly Jonathan Anderson’s. There were carefully constructed bubble tops and silk skirts which protruded awkwardly at the base of models stomachs, some giving way to bunches of green foliage-like tassels that appeared periodically under hems, ruched skirts or layers of draped fabric, as if to add a sense of total integration with the whimsicality of the natural world. Pale pink clip-in bangs mirrored what happened in the hair department at his Dior menswear show just last week, both courtesy of Guido Paolo’s genius. A silver ferret bag was draped over the arm of one model, a coral fur stole on another’s, and a giant plume of green grass—or was it seaweed?— turned out to be an actual bag, which opened the show with a flash of chartreuse and emerald against a stark black dress.
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And then there was the bride. Anderson’s first, mind you. A white gown with an asymmetric neckline and a “zigzag” cut skirt—a technique of Dior’s dating back to 1948. The cyclamens were reintroduced, only this time in white, tied with white ribbons, the petals reflecting a collection of delicate petals that clustered around the pointed neckline and full hem.
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Even after all this time, we’ve known what Anderson is capable of and where his imagination can take him, but no concept we’d drawn up in our own heads could have aptly prepared us for the fantasy he was able to distill into his first ever couture collection. Whimsy and surreality dissolved into moments of pure beauty and craftsmanship—the very underpinnings of what Dior couture means. To attempt to embody Dior couture’s longstanding legacy while coming up with something that has an entirely fresh perspective is not only impressive—it’s a triumph, and it would be astute to call it squarely that.
