Jonathan Anderson on the Dior Archive: Craft, Commerce, Superstition and the Pieces That Shape His Work
Vogue
At Dior Heritage in Paris, the house's archive of Christian Dior's work, creative director Jonathan Anderson walks through a selection of what they call their "objects of affection." The pieces range from the Bar jacket to a Galliano-era puffer, a Roger Vivier shoe and the original planning charts for a collection. Anderson uses each one to explain what they think Dior was: a technical innovator, a romantic, a superstitious storyteller, and, in their view, a businessman whose commercial intelligence gets too little attention. Each piece also serves as a reference point for Anderson's own work at the house.
The Bar Jacket: Iconic Image Versus Technical Object
Anderson begins with the Bar jacket, the defining silhouette of Dior's 1947 New Look, and admits it is the "cliche" choice. They call it a pillar of the house. Seeing it in person, they say, raises a distinction they often notice. Sometimes an image is what makes a garment iconic. Seen without a person inside it, the same piece "becomes kind of a different thing." In Anderson's words, "It's not that it's less magical, it becomes more technical."
Anderson describes Dior as "a bit of an alchemist" who looked back in order to reconstruct the future, and they see the Bar jacket as an example of that. It returns to a defined waistline after a period when, before the war, everything had become softer. Anderson reads this, "in a weird way," as a statement of resilience, as if France were "back in business."
The jacket is also a working tool for Anderson. They use it to experiment with moving proportions up or down the body. In the last cruise show they made it longer. In their first show they made it higher and slit the back open. Subtle changes, they argue, let the jacket go further than you would expect while still being able to return to its original form, because it is "the most amazing blank canvas."
Anderson also explains how they approach the couture shows more generally. They try to set aside the monetary value of the work, because to them couture is ultimately about protecting a craft. That protection lets the house keep adding to the Dior archive and keep its savoir-faire alive.
La Cigale: "My Favorite Dress in History"
Next is La Cigale, a 1952 dress. Anderson calls it their favorite dress in history, despite their love for the Bar jacket, because of how radically it is cut. They point out that the top is cut the way a kimono is cut, on the flat. They say they have long been obsessed with its front panel and drew on it directly for the Cigale bag, because they were interested in how that construction could translate into a bag structure. For Anderson, the dress is a place where "classicism and modernity can meet together."
Dior the Businessman, and Dior the Showman
This leads Anderson to an argument they return to several times. Dior is usually associated with the garden and with romance. What is not discussed enough, they say, is that Dior was "an incredible businessman as a designer." Anderson points to how Dior dealt with Hollywood and used product placement, and mentions Dior thinking about that process in connection with Hitchcock. Getting clothes onto the right people was, in their reading, part of the marketing.
Anderson also describes a lighter side of fashion that they feel has been lost. In the early days, Dior showed in very small salons, full of smoke, with audiences watching around 80 looks go by. According to Anderson, Dior would sometimes send out a red dress to wake people up. They call this "quite camp" in hindsight and say they like it, because although "we don't live in that world anymore," there is "something deeply romantic about it."
Junon: A Dress Too Fragile to Stand
The Junon dress from 1949, covered in layers of petal-like embroidery, has to be displayed lying flat. Anderson explains that because of its age and the way it is made, it can no longer go on a mannequin. They speak about it affectionately, almost as if it were a person: "she's having to lie flat because she's not very well." They note she has probably been worn and "had a lot of fun in," and point out where she is beginning to disintegrate.
Anderson says a designer who truly captures the moment of their time is hard to beat, and this dress is an example. They also use it to highlight the Dior Heritage team who protect such pieces. Anderson calls the archive "probably the most important part of Dior," because few brands have a history like this.
Anderson places Junon in a historical context as they see it. After the Second World War, one of the most traumatic moments in modern history, the aristocracy changed. In their account, the British had been the pioneers of the earlier aristocracy, having made fortunes in the Industrial Revolution. The war ravaged Europe, and then came "the birth of America" and a new aristocracy, with names like Getty and Rockefeller. Anderson says that customers of that era were buying for occasions, and that wealth and celebration changed: "the volume turns up."
They also reflect on how the house has changed their own practice. In previous jobs, Anderson says, they did not do much embellishment. At Dior, the embroidery the house can produce is remarkable, and it becomes "quite addictive." The artisans, they say, want to prove they can make anything.
John Galliano's Puffer Jacket
Anderson then shows a puffer jacket by John Galliano for Christian Dior. It was one of a group of pieces they asked the archive to see when they first joined. They praise Galliano's ability to reimagine things. They note that the pockets are "very Dior" and that the piece brings together the new world and the old, which they call very hard to do: "that's why John is a master."
Anderson is open about how daunting it is to join a house where someone like Galliano came before. They still see a great deal to learn from a piece like this. They compare Galliano's approach to designers like Poiret who looked East for ideas about dress, and describe the result as "couture utilitarianism."
Anderson says they would wear it themselves, walking to work with jeans and boots, and that it "has stood the test of time" and still feels modern. They imagine the jacket styled with the Junon dress and a pair of Converse. The same pieces can also stand on mannequins in museums around the world. That flexibility is what Anderson values in Dior as a brand, which they compare to great cinema: it has ups and downs, multiple casts and crews, and it keeps reinventing itself. "There's not many brands that can do that," they say.
The Book from the First Show
Anderson next turns to a book from Dior's very first show, which they say they had never touched before. Its images of the rooms make them wish fashion still had that sense of revelation and spectacle, which they feel has been partly lost. The photos show how close guests sat to the clothes and how people dressed for the occasion.
They point out the cabine, the room where models changed, and note how tiny it is. It is much smaller than you might imagine, and it "makes the backstages at a fashion show look completely obnoxious." The show had 95 looks and probably ran about an hour and a half. Anderson jokes that today they can barely get guests to stay for 15 minutes without racing out.
On the morning of that first show, Anderson imagines, Dior, whom they describe as a very emotional person, was under heavy pressure to make a brand that did not yet exist work. They say every first show is emotional, because you are trying to give birth to a concept and a direction. Revisiting the archive, they add, is a useful reminder of "what is the mission."
Roger Vivier, Lily of the Valley, and Superstition
In the accessories archive, which holds shoes, hats and jewelry, Anderson picks a shoe by Roger Vivier. They say they like a statement shoe and consider Vivier's shoes for Dior some of the greatest in history, sculptural objects in their own right. They chose this one because of its lily of the valley motif, a flower closely associated with Dior.
That motif opens a discussion of superstition. Anderson says Dior was very superstitious, and describes themselves as "incredibly superstitious, sometimes to the point where it's ridiculous." Dior's small lucky symbols appear on early shoes and jewelry: the ladybird, the lily of the valley, and a small star that the house still sometimes sneaks into things like the soles of shoes. For Anderson these motifs are a form of storytelling that adds poetry, and the way superstition has carried through the house's history makes Dior feel human.
They share their own superstitions. Magpies are the main one: seeing two is fine, but if they see only one, they have to salute it. They never walk under a ladder, consider breaking a mirror the worst, and will knock their head after a bad thought, a habit they say came from their grandmother.
"Dior by Dior" and a Designer Aware of His Place in Time
In the library, Anderson shows Dior by Dior, the designer's memoir. They say it supports the idea that Dior was a smart marketer who knew how to tell his own story. Reading it, Anderson says, you realize Dior was funny, understood his own narrative, and, most interesting to them, was aware of his place in time. It shows him as human, seeing the world very differently from how we do. They describe his story as having a romance "like a Jackie Collins novel, but not."
The Arizona Coat
Anderson then shows a red coat called the Arizona, which they say they love. Its pockets are the ones Galliano referenced on the puffer jacket seen earlier, and Anderson notes the puffer quality in the coat itself. They also point out that Dior returns to the same button used on the Bar jackets, adding that the coat dates from one year later. Anderson says they have recently been experimenting with how to reinterpret this coat for couture. They call it timeless and say they could wear it with jeans too.
The Collection Charts: How Dior Planned a Show
The final stop is the original planning charts for a collection, which the video description identifies as Spring/Summer 1949 haute couture. Anderson explains how the charts assigned looks: sketches sit alongside fabric allocations, laying out color and volume across the whole collection. They call it "such a kind of like meticulous way of working out everything."
In the charts, Anderson points to Dior's recurring use of black and white and certain woven patterns and structures he kept coming back to. The records also show the different types of embroidery and print. This matters practically, Anderson says, because the team can see exactly which fabrics were used. Since the beginning of their tenure, many of their shows have involved going back to the archive to recreate fabrics, twist them, or use different materials.
Anderson ends on the idea that fashion once had a "reverie": a slower process and a preciousness they call "kind of magic." They credit the dedication of the Dior Heritage team and say the house is lucky these sketches and records are preserved, so that anyone can see them in the future.
Hi, I'm Jonathan Anderson and we're here in Paris at Dior Heritage, which holds the collection of Christian Dior. And we're here to show you some of my objects of affection.
So, we are just at the front of the building. We have this amazing room where you can get things out from the archive. You have to put these gloves on because everything is very precious. The first piece, obviously, to be really cliché, is the Bar jacket.
It really is a kind of pillar of the house of Christian Dior. The first time I saw this piece, I don't know, it's sort of like because you've seen it in so many images, there's two things that happen. One is sometimes the image is what makes it iconic. And sometimes when you actually see it without a human being, it actually becomes kind of a different thing. It's not that it's less magical, it becomes more technical.
I think what is great about Dior is that he kind of is a bit of an alchemist because he kind of looks back to be able to reconstruct the future. And I think that's where this piece kind of comes into it. It is really going back into the waistline, which, especially when pre-war everything had become softer at that point, in a weird way for me shows this idea of like resilience, or like it was nearly like France was back in business or something.
When I do the couture shows, I'm always trying to think of like we have to kind of ignore the value of it because ultimately it's more about the protection of a craft. And so that we then can keep adding to the archive of Dior and at the same time keep this savoir-faire going. I like this idea that it is sort of like a way for me to experiment with how you either go up the body or down the body. In the last cruise show, we went longer with it. In the first show, we went higher with it. We slit the back open. When you do some sort of subtleties in it, it means that it actually can go further than you think. But, at the same time, you can bring it back into its own because it's kind of the most amazing blank canvas.
So, this is La Cigale. As much as I love the Bar jacket, this is my favorite dress in history because I think it is so radical the way in which it is cut. On the top, look how a kimono is cut, where you're cutting on the flat. I've always been obsessed by this sort of front panel. Obviously, I have referred to it to do the Cigale bag because I was very into this idea of how this could be transferred into like a bag structure. I just think there's something about it where classicism and modernity can meet together.
Dior is the garden. There is a romance to him. As much as that is the thing that I always kind of relate to him with, I actually think the part that's not really spoken about enough about Dior is that I think he was an incredible businessman as a designer. And I think he was very smart, looking at how he dealt with Hollywood and how he worked with product placement. He's thinking about that process with Hitchcock and how getting it on the right people was part of the marketing.
I think in fashion, as much as we can get very serious about it, there comes a point where you want to make sure there's something that kind of lets go of it. You know, when you think of when Dior did shows in very small salons, and it was smoking, and people were watching 80 looks go by, he would sometimes put a red dress in to kind of wake people up. And it's ultimately quite camp when you look back. And I quite like that part because we don't live in that world anymore. But, at the same time, there is something deeply romantic about it.
We are here to look at probably one of Dior's most incredible dresses, which is the Junon. It has to lay down like this because it can't actually go on a mannequin anymore because of its age and the way in which it is made. And there it is.
Even just looking at it now with you guys, it is such a magical dress. I think when design is really good and when it captures the moment of its time, it's hard to beat. But yeah, she's having to lie flat because she's not very well. She's been worn and probably had a lot of fun in. And you can see here that it's starting to disintegrate a bit. But that's what's so important about Dior Heritage, that we have this amazing team of people who are protecting these pieces. It's probably the most important part of Dior because there are not many brands that have history like this.
After the Second World War, the world goes through probably one of the most traumatic moments in modern-day history. But it is a change of the aristocracy of that period. The British were the kind of pioneers of the aristocracy at that moment. They had made a lot of money through the Industrial Revolution. The war happens, which ravages Europe, and then we have the birth of America and the new aristocracy. So you've got Getty and Rockefeller.
What is interesting about this is that for the person going after it during that period, it was about occasion. We had occasions to go to. Wealth and the idea of celebration changes. The volume turns up. In previous jobs, I didn't do huge amounts of embellishment. When you look at the history of Dior and you look at other designers in it, the embroidery that we can do is amazing. And it actually becomes quite addictive because the people that do it are incredibly addictive. They want to prove that they can make anything.
My next object is this incredible puffer jacket by John Galliano for Christian Dior. It was actually one of the first pieces, a group of pieces that I asked the archive to see when I joined. John is just fantastic in how he reimagines things. And I think what is interesting is that the pockets are very Dior. It is something that for me has the kind of essence of new and old world meeting in it. And I think this is very, very hard to do. And that's why John is a master.
And you know, when you first join a house and you have someone like John Galliano before, it's very, very daunting. But I think there's so much to learn in a piece like this. John is looking out here, as you look at people like Poiret, where they are looking to the East in terms of how people are dressing. And I think it creates such a kind of couture utilitarianism. So, it's a dream piece. I think it's something that I would wear myself. I think I would wear this walking to work with jeans and a pair of boots. I think there's something about this piece that just gives such attitude. You know, it's stood the test of time. I think it's still incredibly relevant and modern.
This jacket by John could be styled with a Junon. And it could be such a look with a pair of Converse, for example, and it would look great. And at the same time, they can go on mannequins around the world into museums and we see them as pieces. And that's what's great about Dior as a brand. It's like great cinema. It has everything in it, ups and downs. It has had multiple cast and crew. It reinvents itself. There's not many brands that can do that.
So, the next object I'm going to show you is the press book, which is for the very first show of Christian Dior. I've actually never touched this one. I always love seeing inside the rooms. I wish fashion was like this today because there is such a kind of reveal and spectacle about fashion. We somehow lost that a bit. And you can see how close people got to clothing and how people dressed for it.
What is interesting is in the building you have the cabine, which you can kind of see here. It's incredibly small, where the models got changed. And it's actually way smaller than you think. It makes the backstages at a fashion show look completely obnoxious. The show was 95 looks. It was probably an hour and a half long. I can barely get guests to stay for 15 minutes without racing out.
I think on the morning of the show, Dior was a very emotional person, but this is the birth of a brand that did not exist. And I think there was a lot of pressure ultimately to make it work. I think every first show is emotional because ultimately you're trying to kind of birth out a concept and idea of where you want to go. And it's quite nice doing this today because it's a nice reminder to come back to the archive and sort of realize what is the mission.
We are now in the accessories archive, which is one of the most beautiful stores that we have. Shoes, hats, jewelry, and many other things.
We have this amazing shoe, which is by Roger Vivier. I like a statement shoe. For me, Vivier created some of the greatest shoes in history. They're kind of sculptural themselves. And why I picked this one is ultimately lily of the valley is something we all know is synonymous with Dior.
The great thing is that Dior is very superstitious. I'm incredibly superstitious, sometimes to the point where it's ridiculous. That's what I quite like with Dior, he has these little motifs. When you look at some early shoes or you look at the jewelry and things, you have the ladybird, which is always another symbol of good luck. You have the lily of the valley, you have the little star that we sometimes sneak into different things on the bottoms of shoes. I think it's something that is storytelling and it gives a bit of poetry.
The great thing about superstition is that it has carried through the history of Dior somehow. And I quite like that because there is something humanizing in Dior himself because he had that. And I think we all have things that we think are good luck or not good luck. Mine are all about magpies. If I see two, it's fine. If I see one, I have to salute it. Definitely do not go underneath a ladder. Mirrors breaking is the worst. And then sometimes, for example, if I have a bad thought, I will knock my head. That was from my grandmother.
We are here in the library and I wanted to quickly show you this book, which is Dior by Dior. And I think this goes back to this idea that as much as we see Dior as the designer, he was a very smart marketeer and very smart at telling his story. Actually, you realize that it's kind of funny, Dior. And at the same time, he understands telling the story of himself. And he's aware, I think, and this is one of the most interesting things about Dior, of his place in time. You realize that he is human and you realize that he sees the world in a very different way than we do. There is a romance to him. It's like a Jackie Collins novel, but not.
So, I wanted to show you in here. This is a coat that I really love. It's called the Arizona. As you can see, these are the pockets that John had referenced on the jacket that we just saw earlier. And it's in this amazing red. And it's something I've been playing with a bit recently to try to see how I could reinterpret this for couture. And it's a kind of timeless coat. I could wear this one too with jeans, I think. Kind of works. This is an amazing piece. You can see the puffer in it. And once again, you see how he reverts to this button a lot, which we saw in the Bar jackets. This is one year after. And then he's going to pop it back in.
In this space, we have all these amazing rolling shelves that you get in libraries. We're now just heading down to see how Dior did the planning of a collection. And it just shows you how he attributed the looks. So, you have the sketches here. You then have all the fabric allocation here. This is such a meticulous way of working out everything in the collection, where you're seeing the coloration, the volume.
And as you see here, what Dior really reverts to a lot is this idea of black and white. He uses a lot of pied-de-poule, grisaille, and a lot of faille. He continues to use this sort of faille structure. And then if you look here, you can see you have all the different types of embroideries, the print. And it's nice because it's really good for us to then go back into this, where we can actually see exactly the fabrics. And a lot of the shows that we have been doing since the very beginning are really going back in and recreating fabrics or twisting fabrics or using different materials.
Going back to this idea, there was a reverie in fashion, and I think there was a process which was slower, and at the same time I think there was a preciousness to it. It's kind of magic. These are his sketches, and the team here that we have are so dedicated. We're very lucky that it's being preserved ultimately, so that anyone can then see it in the future.
Well, thank you very much guys for coming to the Dior archives and Dior Heritage, and for following me around and seeing all my objects of affection.
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