There was a brief crackle from a speaker before the show began.
The first model walked onto the runway, plugged a phone into it, and the soundtrack started. He was wearing a sheer blazer with long flowing sleeves and tailored trousers, stablishing the mood of the collection. What followed felt like a collection from a designer who has become increasingly comfortable inside the Dior universe.
The tailoring formed the backbone of the show, as always. Jackets were cut close through the shoulder but often softened through the sleeve, creating silhouettes that felt controlled without becoming rigid. Trousers skimmed the body and moved beautifully as the models walked. Even when proportions relaxed, the precision remained.
One of the collection’s recurring strengths was its use of contrast. Distressed denim sat alongside sheer tailoring. Loose knits appeared next to sequinned trousers cut close to the body. Metallic surfaces and embellishment were woven through the collection without ever feeling isolated as special pieces.
This has long been one of Anderson’s strengths. He has a way of incorporating decoration into menswear that feels remarkably natural. Sequins, metallic finishes and embellished surfaces are not treated as interruptions to the wardrobe, they are simply part of it.
The collection also continued Anderson’s interest in androgyny, though it appeared here in a particularly settled form, nothing felt designed to provoke. Instead, masculinity and femininity seemed largely irrelevant to the conversation.
The short looks were among the most successful, structured blazers worn with shorts appeared throughout the collection, creating a silhouette Anderson has returned to repeatedly over the years. There is something slightly boyish about the combination, in this context, completely contemporary.
Elsewhere, two-piece suits appeared without shirts underneath. The Dior man felt slightly sexier than usual this season, though always stylish and entirely in control of the image he was presenting.
What stood out most was the confidence of the collection’s point of view. Many designers working in menswear still treat glamour cautiously. Decoration often arrives with qualifications attached, as though it requires explanation. Sequins, transparency, embellishment and tailoring all coexist on the same runway without hierarchy.
There was also a distinctly rock-and-roll quality running through the collection. Distressed denim, bare skin beneath tailoring, metallic finishes and slim silhouettes brought to it an energy that felt relaxed.
Watching the collection unfold, it became clear that Anderson is no longer introducing himself to Dior. Those early questions about how his own language would translate to the house seem increasingly settled. The result was a collection built on texture, movement, tailoring and embellishment, handled with ease.
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