Category Fashion
Published October 12, 2025
Arcadian Landscape with Figures Making Music, by Jan van Huysum
Finlay Dugmore shares his thoughts on recent collections, design innovations, and all things fashion through a quick exchange of text messages.
Thoughts on Dior?
I’m never going to call myself Jonathan Anderson’s biggest fan; his brand of whimsical Britishness never really reached me personally.
But I’m also not removed enough to not see when a moment in fashion really resonates across a whole industry.
That intro video before the first look felt like a reflection on the house of Dior from a fan – from a spectator or an outsider, someone who’s dedicated a part of their life to curating their own personal and private history with Mousier Dior and the years that followed.
It also felt like a celebration of the Dior woman as much as the house itself – it looked to complement the muse as much as the designer, which I think gets overlooked as such a vital part of the process of building a vision like this.
The double-layered drape bridal look exemplified everything I wanted Dior to be for the contemporary woman.
It didn’t feel artificial.
It didn’t feel viral.
Dior SS26. Image courtesy: dior.com
It felt like someone with a genuine love for making clothes, making clothes.
The lace peep collars were such a highlight.
In fact, the lace as a whole was such a high point.
But I suppose the purist distillation of what Jonathons Dior is built to feel like is the green jacket, black skirt look.
And that’s maybe where the magic gets a little lost for me.
I don’t feel like that British spirit sits right in the context of an RTW collection.
It just doesn’t feel right to me.
And that’s my biggest issue.
I don’t entirely feel like the RTW struck a perfect chord.
But then I’m not convinced the evening wear did either.
Anya Taylor-Joy in the crosshatch ribbon hemmed look already struck fear into me.
And between the opening look and the continuation of the ribbon hemming in the show, I think that fear just kind of doubled down for me.
Dior SS26. Image courtesy: dior.com
Ditch a portion of the Britishness – let it show through the spirit of how the Dior woman holds herself.
Dial down some of the whimsy and let your facet of being a designer who loves clothes – and I mean clothes from a technical level shine, and this would have been the greatest celebration of fashion of the past 10 years.
But despite all its issues, it felt powerful.
It genuinely moved me.
And my god, did it make the menswear look even worse than it already did.
