Long before the designer Jonathan Anderson stepped down from his role at Loewe in March, it was rumoured he would be heading for Dior. So when it was finally announced – six months after Dior’s menswear designer left, and four days after its womenswear head, Maria Grazia Chiuri, showed a collection in Rome – it surprised no one.
Yet Anderson’s newfound position at luxury’s centre of gravity still sets Dior, a grand fashion institution, careering down an experimental path. As Delphine Arnault, the chair and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture, told Vogue Business: “For any house, having new artistic direction can be a challenge.”
