Jonathan Anderson

With yet another design award in the bag, Dior's new man is making history, says Victoria Moss

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At the Fashion Awards on Monday night in London, Dame Anna Wintour held court on the prime table in front of the stage where Colman Domingo was performing hosting duties. She was flanked by two of fashion's biggest players. To her left, Delphine Arnault, the 50-year-old daughter of LVMHowner Bernard Arnault and chief executive of Christian Dior Couture. On her right, Jonathan Anderson, the 41-year-old Northern Irish creative director of Dior and founder of the JW Anderson label. Wintour, notably, was wearing a Dior dress designed by him. Anderson collected the designer of the year award - for the third year in a row. After more than 10 years as creative director of Loewe, from 2013 to 2024, he is the first designer to take on both Dior's men's and women's collections.

He achieved the award hat-trick, said Laura Weir, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, "because he is not repeating himself. He creates clothes that feel current but also courageous. There is always a new idea, a new reference, a new way of looking at the world. That level of consistency at such a high standard is incredibly rare."

Those clothes include the latexedged paisley pyjamas from his early collections, the red catsuit worn by a pregnant Rihanna at the Super Bowl, his signature loafer with its outsize chain detail, the free knitting pattern for a cardigan worn by Harry Styles that went viral during the pandemic and Sarah Jessica Parker's pigeonshaped clutch in And Just Like That.

His work points a twisted lens at the everyday - models at one JW Anderson show wore grey granny wigs with their pointelle vests. It is fashion that has the required provocation to confuse, impress and break the internet. An Anderson makeover has become de rigueur for personalities wanting to push beyond their oeuvre, with campaigns featuring everyone from Maggie Smith to Daniel Craig. He has an innate skill for appealing to the social media generation.