Jonathan Anderson’s second Dior show has landed and the models look… awkward, cold, and a forgotten kind of sexy.
Jonathan Anderson meeting Mk.gee (Gen Z’s mysterious indie guitar hero) is a key point here. Anderson said their introduction revealed a shyness, an introversion he didn’t expect — and that introspective energy seeps straight into the clothes. This Dior man is awkward! With hands shoved deep into pockets, skinny pants hovering above wide-nosed shoes, jackets cut so jarringly short it feels like the man simply doesn’t own real winter clothes – we’re back to our high-school crush, lanky, charmingly scruffy weird boys clinging to a cigarette, they may or may not be carrying a journal in their bag.
Immediately, what catches the eye are the mullets bleached a worrying shade of yellow combined with the blown-out hairdo’s reminiscent of Edward Cullen – done by no less than hair genius Guido Palau. The opening looks feature glittery, deep-V “going-out tops,” which are based on Paul Poiret dresses (albeit reduced to be the tops of them). A shiver runs through the rest of the collection, pulling me straight back to any zillennial’s favourite era, back when awkward was kinda cool: frazzled boys in mod-ish short jackets and skinny jeans, chelsea boots, hair untouched since getting out of bed three days ago, and a permanently clumsy grace.
Messenger bags swing, coats are short enough to reveal boney hips. The only permanence in the life of this man is a lighter, and this is simultaneously their only source of warmth. Even the knits are worn thermically unhinged: long ribbed cardigans but with seemingly nothing underneath. If I saw this man on the street I would wonder if he’s okay, I think.
Double-breasted houndstooth jackets with full shoulders and bar hips remind us of Dior’s New Look, but as they’re cut jarringly short, they’re reimagined for contemporary, offbeat men. Military glitter epaulettes with dangling beads perch on shoulders, flirting surprisingly easily with plaid. The military jacket returns, too, thankfully without screaming microtrend too loudly, but enough to add something romantic and half-grungy to the collection, just like the pleated deconstructed collar (that also doubled as the invitation to the show).
Anderson was clear: “I don’t want normality,” he said during a press conference filmed by… Luca Guadagnino. No Normality box immediately checked. Ultimately, Anderson reimagines the Dior man as a Parisian wanderer: an aristocratic youth flâneur drifting between mid-century couture and the fluid, opulent legacy of Paul Poiret. Normality is out for 2026 – awkwardness: ascendant.
Words by Pykel van Latum
