Jonathan Anderson takes his debut Dior Cruise show to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The thing about Cruise collections is that they tend to be a little more relaxed than the traditional seasonal shows. Of course, there’s still a runway, but sitting outside of the designated Fashion Weeks the shows tend to take place in more rural locations, are attended by less celebrities and showcase more down-to-earth pieces. Dior and Jonathan Anderson, however, may just have rewritten the rules.

For his first Cruise show, Anderson chose the one and only Los Angeles County Museum of Art to be the location. Choosing an art museum always ups the stakes for a show, because it puts pressure on the designer to showcase looks even more eye-catching than the art pieces around them. Pressure is also on for the show itself to be engaging. Anderson, however, didn’t crumble under the pressure, he soared above it. 

The Dior Cruise show took the form of an Old Hollywood film, with Anderson as the narrator. The collection on show echoed the glitz and glam of LA’s golden era, but also took into account its lush natural landscapes, with the state’s native poppy appearing as a recurring motif across the pieces. 

Typical Old Hollywood materials like feathers and sequins took centre stage, appearing on headdresses and bias-cut dresses. As for the attendees, Sabrina Carpenter, Anya Taylor Joy and Miley Cyrus all made an appearance. If you ever needed an endorsement that Cruise collections are not to be frowned upon, that should do the trick.

To mark Anderson’s journey as the first Creative Director of Dior to have designed across genders, the show was the House’s first to ever present menswear and womenswear on the same runway. The show broke boundaries in a multitude of ways, putting menswear and womenswear on a rare equal footing, and shattering the illusion that Cruise shows are a House ‘bonus’. Instead, they might be the most exciting event in the fashion calendar.