Shot by David Sims, Dior Spring/Summer 2026 is about identity and attitude, showing us how Anderson wants the house to behave in the real world.
With his first global campaign for Dior, Jonathan Anderson makes a quiet but deliberate statement. Rather than introducing himself through spectacle, the Spring/Summer 2026 campaign sets out a point of view. Photographed by David Sims, it doesn’t push product so much as it lays out a mindset, translating Anderson’s much-discussed “recode” of the house into something visual and human.
The images, shot in a mix of black-and-white and color, feel closer to studies than scenes. There’s no obvious storyline, no dramatic set pieces. Sims keeps things stripped back. Meaning comes through posture, distance, the way bodies sit in a room. The settings are understated: parquet floors, paneled walls, spare furniture, muted fabrics. It suggests a kind of cultural privilege rather than financial excess, a Dior rooted in taste and reference rather than status.
The cast reflects that shift. Greta Lee, Louis Garrel, Paul Kircher, Kylian Mbappé, alongside Laura Kaiser, Sunday Rose, and Saar Mansvelt Beck, don’t pose so much as inhabit the frame. They look caught between moments, between versions of themselves. There’s a sense of rehearsal, of waiting, of becoming. It nods to theatre and cinema, but also to one of Anderson’s recurring ideas: identity as something fluid, built day by day.
Clothes are present, but they don’t dominate. The focus is on structure and feel. Silhouettes are precise without being stiff. Fabrics look meant to be touched, worn, lived in. Dior’s past is there, but not on a pedestal. The Bar jacket appears alongside Delft shorts. Formal tailoring meets piped shirts, softened denim, knit capes. History isn’t erased, but it’s treated as raw material rather than a rulebook.
That balance between refinement and ease is where Anderson’s hand shows most clearly. He’s long been interested in what makes clothes feel “real,” and here he nudges Dior away from idealized perfection toward something more attainable. Elegance isn’t performative. It’s behavioral. Less about what you wear, more about how you carry it.
The accessories play along. Lady Dior bags with tassels, the Cigale with its mini bow, the Crunchy, the Bow, the Diorly. They feel character-driven rather than logo-led, adding nuance instead of stealing focus. It’s luxury that interacts with the wearer, rather than overpowering them.
What ultimately comes through is the idea of a “clique.” Not a uniform look, but a shared attitude. A group bound by curiosity, ease, and a willingness to play with identity. It’s a smart message at a moment when big fashion houses are trying to speak to audiences who are more fragmented, more aware, and less impressed by declarations of grandeur.
Jonathan Anderson’s first Dior campaign doesn’t spell out exactly where he’s taking the house. Instead, it asks better questions. What does it mean to inherit a legacy brand now? How do you respect the archive without freezing it in place? And how do you build a style that people can actually live with? For now, his answer seems clear enough: style as behavior. Style as instinct. Style as character.
About the Author
