All Is Full Of Love. Dior SS26 Couture

This haute couture season isn’t legendary only because of two debut collections at two major maisons. It will be remembered as the fashion week when couture finally leaped into a new era. It is relevant again.

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior collection had been in the making for over six months, and it shows in every single detail. Everything is imbued with passionate love for craft, art, and… FASHION. John Galliano not only blessed the project, but in a way initiated its birth with a cyclamen bouquet he gifted Anderson at the very beginning of his tenure at the house. The fragile purple flowers – symbols of lasting feelings, sincere affection, and tender love – were not only present in the show’s scenography, but were eternalized by Jean-Pierre Ollier’s atelier, which created thousands of handmade, hand-painted silk flowers. These blooms adorned the collection’s hero accessories: oversized brooches, bomb-shaped earrings, and more.

Above all, this was a couture show that exercised surrealism in the most extraordinary way, turning to the beauty of Mother Nature for inspiration. Dresses were airy like dandelions; skirts could easily be mistaken for hydrangea bushes; 18th-century-inspired portrait brooches were framed with orchids. One silk skirt in a subtle chinoiserie print appeared to explode with tiny green cones. The opening look’s bag referenced a couture hanger, yet it was entirely covered in hand-dyed, extra-long grass.

In the hands of another designer with the same haute couture possibilities, such effects might have veered into saccharine sweetness, or worse, princess-y costume. In Anderson’s, however, the collection struck with delightful eccentricity – and, above all, modernity. This was conveyed effortlessly through cool pink bangs (Sandy Hullett’s work), cocoon-like coats, and astonishing knitted dresses that quite literally flowed down the body. Jonathan Anderson has insisted that, for him, haute couture is something you collect. This enchanting, breathtaking collection could easily stand as the sole subject of a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition. Yet it also feels confident enough for a beautiful, bold life beyond the museum walls.

Yes – this is exactly what haute couture should be in 2026.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Actually Fashion. Dior Men AW26

Remember my very real concerns about this season’s menswear turning conservative? Jonathan Anderson erased them the second the first look of his sophomore Dior menswear collection hit the runway. It felt like a bow-wow-wow moment of unfiltered fashion that is actually fashion, for Christ’s sake.

The yellow wigs by Guido Palau, à la Pam Hogg, felt like the much-needed final disruption of the contemporary Dior image – one long orchestrated by former creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Kim Jones. Goodbye neatness and primness; hello decadence, flamboyance, drama. This collection cut the umbilical cord to anything preppy, veering into directions nobody could have fathomed. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

A Moment Of Respite. JW Anderson AW26

Jonathan Anderson’s rebranding of his London-based label is a unanimous success. It has brought clarity and ease to JW Anderson, which is now more focused than ever on IRL retail spaces that mingle impeccably crafted flannel shirts and denim with objects sourced across Britain. No fashion shows – just simple lookbooks starring Anderson’s friends, who wear the brand and embody its witty (and unobtrusively sexy) character.

There’s Ashley Heath in a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Porn” and pink satin shorts; Kylie Minogue in a crochet dress with a yellow car motif; Tim Blanks in a short-sleeved shirt in a cocky print, digging in with a garden fork; Alice Temple looking absolutely badass in a classic leather jacket. Then come the home accessories – organically dyed cushions, stripey hand brushes – all so British and so desirable, even if you might not actually need them in your life.

It seems that JW Anderson has become the designer’s outlet for slowing down, a moment of respite from his other, far more intense role in Paris. His second Dior menswear show is just around the corner.

ED’s SELECTION:

JW Anderson Fringed Appliquéd Checked Wool-blend Scarf


JW Anderson Anchor Leather-trimmed Canvas Tote


JW Anderson x Nicholas Mosse Painted Ceramic Plate


JW Anderson Cauliflower Crocheted Cotton Bag Charm


JW Anderson Neilly Set Of Three Striped Linen Napkins


JW Anderson Rugby Cotton-jersey Polo Shirt

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

New Look. Dior Pre-Fall 2026

Jonathan Anderson’s new look for Dior continues to intrigue – and puzzle. Women’s pre-fall 2026 is already his fourth collection, which sounds quite absurd given that the first Dior pieces designed by Anderson will only start hitting stores in January at the earliest. But this is how the industry works. We’ve seen his neo-preppy menswear debut over the summer, followed by pre-fall just over a week ago. His women’s debut during the last Paris Fashion Week still leaves me on the fence, even though certain details are gradually growing on me. The lookbook released this week seems to reveal more about how Anderson envisions the Dior woman, stripped of runway spectacle and contrived styling. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!

Boys. Dior Men Pre-Fall 2026

Jonathan Anderson’s pre-fall 2026 collection for Dior Men reads as both a continuation and a clarification of his debut collection from the summer. And you know what? I like it. Anderson is betting big on a neo-preppy sensibility: oversized “Delft” cargo shorts, a frat-boy color palette, and a distinct Ralph-Lauren-ification of the Dior universe. What I loved most in this line-up is the way he transformed the “Bar” jacket – rendered here in Donegal wool – into a new menswear classic, something that can be effortlessly worn with faded jeans and a lived-in suede cross-body bag. Another look – a floral jacket layered over a blue striped shirt and paired with pink trousers – plays deliberately with the boundaries of good and bad taste in menswear. There’s an intriguing dialogue between high and low in Jonathan’s approach to Dior, and it makes the language he’s still in the process of defining sound increasingly compelling.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram!

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe!