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What do a tomato, a frog, and a pigeon have in common? They have all inspired bags created by Jonathan Anderson. The Northern Ireland born designer, newly appointed as creative director at Dior, is a master of the viral fashion object, whether for his own label JW Anderson or at Loewe, where he spent over a decade.
Anderson’s realistic pigeon clutch appeared on Sex and the City spin off And Just Like That in 2023, but it’s the tomato bag that best expresses his ability to capture attention in the distracted modern age. A photo of an heirloom tomato with sculptural ridges went viral on X last June, when a user posted it with the caption “This tomato is so Loewe I can’t explain it.” Anderson responded on Instagram by presenting a tomato-shaped leather bag with the words “Loewe meme to reality”.
It was the sort of brand-building playfulness that the 40-year-old excels at. A strong identity is what a fashion house needs, especially during a luxury slowdown. Major brands Chanel, Valentino and Gucci have all changed their head designers since early 2024. When Anderson’s appointment as creative director of women’s, men’s and haute couture collections at Dior was announced on Monday, Bernard Arnault, chair and chief executive of owner LVMH, said “his incomparable artistic signature will be a crucial asset in writing the next chapter of the history of the House of Dior.”
Anderson replaces Maria Grazia Chiuri, who has designed womenswear and couture at Dior since 2016, and Kim Jones, who left his position as menswear designer in January. He is the first designer since founder Christian Dior to take on both men’s and women’s collections and will continue with his own label.
His approach to design should help him in writing Dior’s next chapter. In 2010, he said of his work “I’m trying to tell a story. I’m originally from Northern Ireland and storytelling is a massive part of my upbringing.”
Anderson was born in Magherafelt, County Londonderry in 1984. His father is the former Irish rugby captain Willie Anderson and his mother was a teacher. His maternal grandfather was a textile designer and Anderson has said that while he didn’t “consciously think that this was the job for me . . . I was always very obsessed with fashion, and the artistic process in general.”
Diagnosed with dyslexia in primary school, he moved to the US aged 18 to pursue a shortlived passion for acting. After moving back to Ireland he took his first fashion job at Dublin department store Brown Thomas where he met Manuela Pavesi, the visual communications director for Prada windows. She inspired him to enrol at the London College of Fashion, where contemporaries remember him as exceptionally focused and ambitious. After finishing his degree he had a stint as a visual merchandiser for Prada before launching his own menswear collection in 2008. Two years later he added womenswear to almost instant buzz.
In 2012, Kate Phelan, then creative director of Topshop, asked him to design a collection as part of its NEWGEN talent initiative. She recalls that he always had “one eye on the commercial and one eye on the creative which is a rare combination.” His energy to keep making products was boundless, she added. “I think you still see that now in him.”
But Anderson’s biggest break came in 2013 when LVMH took a minority stake in JW Anderson and hired him as creative director for Spanish leather goods brand Loewe.
There, his catwalk shows became a distinctive blend of big conceptual ideas — dresses in the shape of cars and shoes that featured deflated balloons — striking tailoring, and impressive craftsmanship. For the men’s spring/summer 2015 show the brand introduced the origami-like Puzzle bag, one of the few design classic bags of the last decade.
Former YOOX Net-a-Porter president Alison Loehnis says Anderson has the ability to “toggle between the intellectual and an understanding of what his consumer is going to want”.
He now faces the challenges of a bigger fashion house (one that some claim is suffering from brand fatigue). Dior has a huge global reach and a 78-year heritage.
In the background is the cautionary tale of John Galliano, the British designer who started at Dior in a blaze of glory in 1996. Fifteen years later he was fired after being filmed making drunken antisemitic comments. The designer admitted addiction issues but he has also cited the intensity of his workload as a factor in his self-destruction.
Anderson is a calmer character who conveys a mix of the arty and the earthy. After runway shows he seems unfazed by the hectic scrum encircling him as he expounds on the various recherché influences behind the collection.
Curiosity is a quality that comes up frequently. The filmmaker Jack Elliot Hobbs, who worked with him on a short film called Who Is The Painter? confirms that he is “constantly looking for the next person or thing to develop”. This could be the secret sauce to maintaining the “newness” that fashion craves.
Anderson’s appointment will be judged at his debut menswear show for Dior in June. The likelihood is that he will be presented with a dazzling bouquet of LVMH flowers rather than pelted with (meme-like) tomatoes.
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