Anderson to Show First Dior Men’s Collection in June
- Miles Socha
- 45 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Bernard Arnault announced the appointment of Jonathan Anderson as creative director at Dior Men at LVMH's annual shareholders' meeting in Paris.
PARIS — Bernard Arnault surprised the fashion world — and apparently everybody at LVMH — by announcing to shareholders Thursday that star designer Jonathan Anderson has succeeded Kim Jones as Dior’s menswear designer and will present his first collection for the French house in June.
It brought a jolt of excitement to the French group’s annual general meeting, where the business titan also piled pressure on Brussels to negotiate a solution to the escalating trade tensions between Europe and the U.S. fanned by the Trump administration’s tariff policy.
Arnault, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, dropped the Dior bombshell in response to a question from a shareholder about the succession plan following the resignation last January of Jones, the British designer who logged an eventful seven-year tenure at the French house.
It marked the first time LVMH made it official that Anderson has a new role in the group since the Northern Irish designer stepped down from Loewe last month after an acclaimed 11-year tenure.
Dior hastily issued a one-line press release saying Anderson was working on its spring 2026 men’s collection, which would be presented on June 27 at 2:30 p.m. during Paris Fashion Week. It also distributed a new official portrait of Anderson by photographer David Sims.
At the meeting, Arnault did not elaborate, despite widespread speculation Anderson is also poised to eventually take over the women’s department at Dior, currently led by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri.
During the meeting, which fell during a bruising week for LVMH after a 2 percent dip in first-quarter revenues sent its shares into a tailspin, Arnault also gave shoutouts to the group’s new designer recruits in 2024: Sarah Burton at Givenchy, Michael Rider at Celine, and Proenza Schouler founders Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough at Loewe.
Bernard Arnault Courtesy of LVMH
He also mentioned Chiuri and the pre-fall 2025 collection she just paraded in Kyoto, plus Nicolas Ghesquière and Pharrell Williams, artistic director of women’s and men’s collections at Louis Vuitton respectively, plus Victoire de Castellane, Dior’s longtime designer of fine jewelry collections, touting “sensational” sales of her most recent high jewelry offering shown in Florence.
Europe’s luxury groups have been under pressure from investors and equity analysts to kickstart business with new creativity as the boom in business in the post-COVID-19 period has fizzled
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Chanel, Gucci, Maison Margiela, Lanvin, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Tom Ford, Dries Van Noten, Mugler, Bally, Jil Sander and Jean Paul Gaultier are among houses that named new creative directors in the past year.
Anderson transformed Loewe from a small, reputable Spanish leather house into a vibrant global luxury brand steeped in contemporary culture.
His daring designs — and intense focus on craftsmanship — helped catapult the scale of the Loewe business, with revenues multiplying by more than seven times over his tenure to approach 2 billion euros, market sources estimate.
Contacted by WWD, Dior declined further comment on what Anderson has up his sleeve.
News of Anderson’s position confirms previous WWD reports that he had begun working on the Dior men’s spring 2026 collection.
Chiuri has helmed the brand’s womenswear collections since 2016. She is due to parade Dior’s cruise 2026 collection on May 27 in Rome.
Thursday’s shareholders’ meeting was dedicated mostly to LVMH’s 2024 results, though Arnault spoke frankly about how the first quarter of 2025 started off well, but took a turn for the worse in March as Trump’s tariffs began roiling stock markets and spooking consumers worldwide.
“That said, we remain optimistic, and we are continuing our investments,” Arnault said, sounding relaxed and speaking off the cuff. “We are continuing to master manufacturing, which is still something essential, and we are sticking to our values.”
He touted the importance of creativity, “which is at the heart of everything we do,” and the entrepreneurial spirit he encourages at LVMH.
Arnault also stressed that “the pursuit of the best quality, the highest quality, is at the heart of our success.”
His passion for products was evident: He appointed his seat at the podium desk with Louis Vuitton’s Montgolfière Aéro that was developed with clock specialist L’Épée 1839, which the group acquired last year.
Louis Vuitton Montgolfière Aéro clock. Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
At one point, he instructed LVMH’s new chief financial officer Cécile Cabanis to hold aloft the jewel-like timekeeping device, modeled after a hot air balloon and the size of a small table lamp. (The limited-edition item sold for 55,000 euros.)
The luxury titan also boasted about the quality of Vuitton’s mechanical watches, the dynamism of Dior makeup and its Sauvage fragrance, still number one in the world, and lavish flagships for Vuitton and Tiffany in Milan, which opened earlier this month.
He then spoke of two “phenomena” that give him hope for the future of LVMH’s business, despite the current geopolitical and economic turmoil.
The first is the rising standard of living and wealth creation occurring all over the world, which is expanding the number of people who can consume luxury goods.
“This should normally — despite ups and downs depending on the economic circumstances — continue, so there is every reason to be convinced, as I am, that the extraordinary power of attraction of our brands will continue,” he said.
The second phenomenon, “which is more unfavorable, is the one we are currently observing: inflation and its consequence, which is a rise in interest rates.”
Arnault explained that this mostly impacts the “aspirational” customer base, which serves to clarify LVMH’s objective to continue prioritizing high-quality products over volume.
“The larger the company, the more it needs to work with influential customers to continue to grow,” he said. “We still prioritize the growth of our most elevated products, even if it means growing a little slower….Ultimately, what matters is having the greatest desirability for the long term.
“Maybe we’ll have a little less growth,” he continued. “OK, that doesn’t bother me at all, as long as we make the best products.”
Asked about looming tariffs, Arnault stressed that it was essential to “recreate a climate of trust, trade and reciprocal relations” with the U.S., which accounted for 25 percent of LVMH’s 2024 sales. “I don’t know if we’ll succeed, but I hope.”
He allowed that if Europe’s luxury sector ends up with high customs duties, LVMH may be “forced to increase our American production, inevitably to avoid customs and all that.”
Louis Vuitton counts three U.S. sites for leather goods production, which provide roughly one-third of local needs and can ramp up capacity, as reported. Jeweler Tiffany & Co. also manages to supply most of its American stores with its U.S. production.
“If Europe doesn’t negotiate intelligently, they will have this consequence in many companies,” he said.
“I have already heard several companies are considering increasing their capacities in the United States, but we mustn’t say that it’s the companies’ fault. It will be Brussels’ fault if that were to happen.”
Shareholders were proposed a dividend of 13 euros per share, on par with 2023.
— With contributions from Lily Templeton
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