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Who is Jonathan Anderson, Dior’s new creative director?
On April 17th, Dior announced the appointment of Jonathan Anderson as the creative director for its menswear collections. This news was followed today by his appointment to oversee the couture and women’s collections of the house as well. He will thus succeed both Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones. Just a few months after his departure from Loewe, where he was creative director since 2013, the Northern Irish designer is set to present his first collection for the LVMH group’s flagship house in June at the Paris Men’s Fashion Week.
par Léa Zetlaoui.
Published on 17 April 2025. Updated on 10 September 2025.
Jonathan Anderson appointed creative director of Dior men’s and women’s collections
It’s official: on Monday 2nd of June 2025, Jonathan Anderson became the new creative director of all Dior collections, ending months of speculation. After a year 2024 full of major changes, the house founded in 1946 announced the departure of Kim Jones from its menswear collections last January 2025. On May 29th, the departure of Maria Grazia Chiuri, head of the women’s and haute couture collections, was also announced.
In a challenging economic context, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, reassured investors and stated in a press release last April: “I can tell you that the next Christian Dior men’s show, which will take place in June, will be designed by Jonathan Anderson.” With the announcement of his promotion to head all collections, he added that Jonathan Anderson “is one of the greatest creative talents of his generation. His incomparable artistic signature will be a crucial asset in writing the next chapter of the history of the House of Dior.”
Following in the footsteps of Gucci, Versace, Chanel, Maison Margiela, and Celine, the fashion house located on Avenue Montaigne is also rethinking its creative strategy. The appointment of Jonathan Anderson at the helm of all the collections at Dior – menswear, womenswear, haute couture – seems highly promising. Numéro dives into it.
Miuccia Prada, Hedi Slimane, and Tom Ford as his inspirations
Before becoming one of the most celebrated fashion designers of his generation, Jonathan Anderson dreamed of being an actor. While studying at the Juilliard School in New York, he eventually shifted his focus to costume design and enrolled at the London College of Fashion.
The Irish designer graduated in 2005 and started out as a visual merchandiser for Prada. In addition to Miuccia Prada, whom he cites as one of his key inspirations, Jonathan Anderson openly admits drawing his inspirations from the great designers of the 1990s and 2000s, such as Hedi Slimane and Tom Ford.
“It’s inevitable to be impacted by the iconic figures of the era you grew up in. In my youth, Tom Ford was omnipresent. His approach to branding influenced me greatly. Hedi Slimane, on the other hand, was a major figure during my student years,” he shared in a 2015 interview with Numéro.
An eclectic career
In 2008, at just 24, Jonathan Anderson launched JW Anderson, a menswear brand that quickly won over the British fashion industry. Sponsored by the British Fashion Council in 2010, he held his first fashion show during the London Fashion Week, before collaborating with Topshop and Versace in 2012.
At the time, Donatella Versace was betting on emerging young talents to reinvigorate her secondary line, Versus, which would have Anthony Vaccarello at its helm later on. With Jonathan Anderson’s input, the famous sexy Italian house gained an extra touch of audacity and irreverence.
A year later, in 2013, Jonathan Anderson joined the LVMH group, which invested in his brand and entrusted him with the creative direction of Loewe, the Spanish luxury house founded in 1846 and acquired by the group in 1996. In March 2025, Jonathan Anderson left Loewe, an LVMH-owned house, and the American designer duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, founders of Proenza Schouler, took over the creative direction of the Spanish leather goods brand.
A designer who quickly became essential
For over a decade of peaceful collaboration, the Jonathan Anderson-Loewe duo made a lasting impression. The Lyst ranking underlined it when it listed Loewe as the most sought-after brand in the first half of 2023.
At the same time, Jonathan Anderson engaged in numerous collaborations through his JW Anderson label, like revamping of Moncler’s iconic down jackets or designing collections with Uniqlo.
These collections for the Japanese brand were inspired by his own style. “I created a wardrobe that I would wear myself every day. These are designs with an aesthetic that is very close to my personal lifestyle,” he shared in a 2021 interview.
The versatile designer with a rich resume never shies away from a challenge in fashion. His boldness is particularly evident in his collections, which are marked by a penchant for experimentation and a good sense of humor.
Fashion is a game for Jonathan Anderson
“The very idea of codes is obsolete because people get bored in 24 hours. You need to entertain people, and many industries are facing this challenge today,” he explained to Numéro in 2015. If there is one area where the Irish designer excels, it’s creating entertaining fashion.
Through his brands JW Anderson and Loewe, Jonathan Anderson has built a world where fashion, art, and pop culture intertwine without ever being overly conceptual. It’s a fashion for insiders, yet it resonates with a broader audience. His avant-garde vision is reminiscent of Miuccia Prada’s approach, where he made his debut.
Jonathan Anderson and his teams are not afraid to embrace our modern times, through both celebration or parody, and as long as craftsmanship remains intact.
Every runway show features a range of everyday objects, animals, fruits, and flowers turned into clothing and accessories – including the infamous Pigeon clutch bag spotted in the series And Just Like That – to the delight of a community addicted to his mischievous post-internet vision.
His wardrobes are always pragmatic and consist in essential pieces reworked with daring volumes and technical materials. Meanwhile, iconic bags like the Loewe Puzzle and Elephant designs showcase an unmatched quality.
A design and craftsmanship aficionado
Since its creation thanks to Jonathan Anderson’s initiative in 2016, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has annually honored independent creators from all around the world for their unique skills in a variety of fields, such as woodworking, ceramics, textile art, and jewelry design.
The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has helped spotlight an impressive generation of international artists and creatives. In 2024, Mexican artist Andrés Anza was awarded a €50,000 prize for his monumental ceramic sculpture titled “I only know what I have seen”, which is over four meters tall.
A marketing and communication genius
Jonathan Anderson’s DNA quickly became inseparable from a certain irreverence tinged with humor. In 2019, the Irish designer launched a parody campaign titled JWA TV, mimicking the aesthetic of vintage shopping network programs. This three-part video series showcased JW Anderson’s handbag families – the Keyts bag got the ball rolling in the first episode, while the following episodes focused on the Anchor, Logo, and Bike bags.
A few years later, this same irreverent spirit resurfaced at Loewe, a house he brilliantly helmed until his departure in March 2025. His new idea? To feature the great actress Maggie Smith, who tragically passed away on September 27th, 2024, at the heart of Loewe’s Spring/Summer 2024 campaign, shot by the notorious German photographer Juergen Teller. Longtime collaborators, the Irish designer and the German photographer share a distinct taste for absurd staging and biting humor, thus bringing a rare touch of irreverence into the world of luxury.
Jonathan Anderson’s latest feat dates back to April 2024, when he ventured into the seventh art by taking on the role of costume designer for Challengers, Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated film starring the new Gen Z icon, Zendaya. Riding on the film’s success, Jonathan Anderson once again collaborated with the prolific director on his latest project Queer, powerfully led by Daniel Craig.
