“It’s a continuum, an expansion. A mix of referencing,” Jonathan Anderson says, talking through these images. The clothes we were looking at are Dior Men’s Pre-Fall 2026 collection, which has been wildly well-received by Anderson at Maison. Super-wide ‘Delft’ cargo shorts, almost indistinguishable from skirts, and tweed bar jackets are already familiar cornerstones of his reign after only six months.
There is a strange acceleration of fashion expressions these days. And Anderson is conscious of putting the brakes on it. “The first collection was Chapter One,” he said. “I don’t want to run away from it too fast. This is another chapter. I’m trying to find a new vocabulary for Dior menswear. Refine it, enrich it. Every detail counts. It makes the little things matter.”
Once you calm down from the instinct to rush about the visuals for new news, the degree to which each element calibrates to class signifiers is an intensely Andersonian study. It was occupied by Baudelaire in the 19th century, he said. The gilded exclusivity of this Parisian setting becomes the backdrop for huge swathes of catuires from haute to ordinaire.
And in the same period, Anderson is perfectly capable of sticking around for even the most conservative current Dior male clientele. Here are those who know that ‘Delft’ refers to a 1948 Christian Dior haute couture dress whose billowing billet flounces largely inspired the cargo-short silhouette. And who may be the fact that they can now be worn in rosebud-strewn calico, or perhaps stamped with a medieval shield print with a diurnal lucky bee in the center, which Anderson spotted out of the corner of his eye while visiting the “Caravaggio Exhibition in Rome.”
The magic, of course, is that Anderson brings the outdoors and the land down to life together. His knack — carried over from his Lowe’s days — is how he balances classy, classic, and casually fashionable. Stamped with Dior gilt medallion belt buckles and charmingly goofy rabbit- and crab-shaped pins, thimbles, sewing machine parts and pincushion-like branding catnaps, Anderson guides you like you’re not trying.
“As mundane as something may seem,” he concluded, “Delphine (Arnault, CEO of Dior) and I are working on making sure that even one jersey is made in the best place in the world.” Enter the standard that will build a timeless wardrobe. “
