Jonathan Anderson’s collection is shaped by folds, knots, flowers, and movement.
Dior presented its Fall/Winter 2026-2027 haute couture collection at the gardens of Musée Rodin in Paris, with Jonathan Anderson continuing to define his direction for the French house. This season, the collection took inspiration from American artist Lynda Benglis, whose work is known for blurring the line between painting, sculpture, and material experimentation.
That reference appeared across the runway through draped jackets, pleated trousers, metallic folds, floral embroidery, and accessories decorated with antique textiles. Rather than treating the codes as untouchable, Anderson made them feel lighter, softer, and more tactile.
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Dior’s classic codes felt lighter
At Dior, the Bar jacket is always part of the story. Introduced by Christian Dior in 1947, it helped define the New Look with its cinched waist and sculpted shape. For any designer at the house, returning to it means working with one of fashion’s most recognizable pieces.
Anderson approached it through movement. Jackets came with gentler waists, frilled edges, and sheer layers, while trousers were pleated and fluid. Skirt suits had a relaxed drape, giving familiar Dior shapes a more eased-up feeling.
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The collection still carried the house’s romance, but it did not feel overly formal. Tailoring appeared throughout the show, but fabrics were wrapped, folded, and allowed to move around the body.
Lynda Benglis shaped the collection
The main reference was Lynda Benglis, the American artist whose work often explores poured, twisted, and manipulated materials. Her influence appeared in the way Anderson treated fabric as something that could be bent, gathered, knotted, and reshaped.
Anderson described the collection as a response to Benglis’s work “in the language of couture,” with pleating, knotting, draping, and embellishment used to make fabric look almost like paper, plaster, or metal.
Anderson also spoke about Benglis’s energy in the work. “What I love about Lynda and her body of work is that [it has] a spontaneous joy,” he said in a pre-show teaser. “And at the same time, it’s muscular. She’s got this romance of grabbing something and bending it, that makes it so visceral.”
Metallic pleats opened like fans, knots became part of the construction, and draped pieces held their shape.
Dior looked to India and New Mexico
The collection also drew from Benglis’s life and work in India and New Mexico noting references to Ahmedabad and Santa Fe, as well as the artist’s Peacock series, which inspired floral ornamentation and beaded details.
This came through in the accessories and surface work. Bags such as the Petit Dîner and Lady Dior were decorated with knots, pleats, chintz, and indiennes. Jewelry featured mother-of-pearl, rock crystal, and carved green onyx, connecting the effect to the emeralds of Rajasthan.
The set was designed as a long pavilion open at the sides, with a mirror-polished marquetry floor and reflective surfaces across the ceiling and back wall. Inside the Musée Rodin garden setting, the effect created the illusion of endless space. Rows of tree ferns placed between and around the seats also echoed the fern motifs that appeared throughout the collection.
Taylor Swift added attention to the collection
The bridal look also drew attention because Anderson has recently been linked to Taylor Swift’s Dior haute couture wedding dress. While that dress has yet to be seen publicly, Dior’s couture finale offered another look at how Anderson is approaching bridalwear for the house. When asked about dressing Swift, Anderson told The Guardian, “It was a big honor.”
He added, “But no, I can’t tell you anything about it. It will all come out in due course. It was a joy to work with her and we became very good friends. It is an emotional thing, doing someone’s wedding.”
For Dior’s runway bride, he showed a strapless pearl column dress under hand-pleated chiffon, finished with white feather dandelions and embroidered cactus flowers.
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Watch the full show below:
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