Who's Jonathan Anderson, the designer tipped to succeed Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior?

Amid Maria Grazia Chiuri's exit as creative director of Dior, the luxury fashion brand owned by LVMH has been pretty tight-lipped about succession plans. Dior menswear designer Jonathan Anderson, who was helming Loewe until March this year, has been widely tipped to take a bigger role in Dior.

Who's Jonathan Anderson, the Northern Irish designer tipped to replace Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior?

It's important to note that Loewe is also under the LVMH umbrella, so the company clearly trusts Anderson. Besides placing him in key positions, including succeeding Kim Jones as the creative director of Dior menswear, LVMH has also provided funding and a minority stake in his eponymous label, JW Anderson.

Anderson is due to create a June collection for Dior Men's Fashion, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault confirmed last month."We think the departure clears the path for Jonathan Anderson to assume a consolidated leadership role across Dior", said UBS analyst Zuzanna Pusz.

Before Anderson, Loewe was known as a heritage leather goods brand but lacked strong global relevance. Anderson infused it with modernity, merging centuries-old craftsmanship with bold, playful designs. He gave the brand its breakout stars like the Puzzle Bag (2015), a design now synonymous with Loewe’s identity.

His shows, marked by giants, feathers, and sculptural forms, became viral phenomena. Anderson brought Loewe into digital-first consumer spaces, eaching younger audiences with Instagram, TikTok, and filmic campaigns. He orchestrated witty, art-driven campaigns, be it Aubrey Plaza teaching pronunciation or Taylor Russell in surrealist makeup ads.

Collaborations with Studio Ghibli, Ken Price, On sportswear helped Loewe's visibility. The designer also made Loewe a part of major cultural milestones and the label collaborated with Beyonce for her 2023 Cowboy Carter tour.

Beyonce wore Anderson's bespoke pieces created by the artisans at LOEWE’s ateliers in France and Spain, which blended futuristic concepts with theatrical, disco-era aesthetics. The surrealist hand motifs from LOEWE’s FW22 runway were remixed onto bodysuits, and a colour palette of chrome, silver, black, white, and grey was contrasted with bold reds and golds.

Anderson was at Loewe for a little over 11 years, and under his leadership, Loewe's annual revenue grew from €230 million in 2014 to €1.1 billion in 2024.

The Northern Irish fashion designer was quickly recognised as a rising talent and received support from the British Fashion Council's NewGen initiative in 2010. 

In 2012, Anderson collaborated with high-street retailer Topshop on a limited-edition clothing and accessories line, which sold out within hours. He followed up with a second collection in February 2013. That June, he also debuted his first collection for Versace’s diffusion label, Versus.

When Dior named Jonathan Anderson the artistic director of its men's collections this April, insiders and experts were taken aback and there was wide speculation that there was more to the story. That same week, LVMH reported a 3 per cent year-over-year drop in sales, largely due to weakening performance in Asia and the United States. The news led to an 8 per cent drop in its stock price.

As per reports, Dior was singled out by LVMH’s chief financial officer, Cécile Cabanis, as having underperformed compared to the group’s overall average. During the shareholder meeting, Bernard Arnault revealed Jonathan Anderson’s appointment in response to an investor’s inquiry. This was deemed to be a strategic move to reassure stakeholders concerned about the company’s direction.

Anderson's abrupt exit from LVMH's Loewe without an immediate successor or new role lined up sparked speculation that Anderson was being positioned for a major new role. That speculation was confirmed when LVMH later announced that Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the duo behind New York-based label Proenza Schouler, would take over at Loewe.

At Loewe, Anderson proved himself a modern creative director capable of balancing artistry and business and also demonstrated strong commercial instincts, especially in Loewe’s menswear offerings, which included classic leather jackets, loafers, and tailored knitwear that appealed to a broader consumer base.

Anderson also proved he knew understood the dynamism of the digital era and translate it into business. A few months ago, a photo of a large heirloom tomato with deep ribbing went viral on X. “This tomato is so Loewe I can’t explain it,” user @homocowboi shared alongside the post which garnered more than 98 K likes on his post since then.

Jonathan Anderson embraced the viral moment and shared a screenshot of the post on his Instagram account, and inspired by the heirloom tomato, Anderson revealed a clutch bag with the same ribbing design. “Loewe meme to reality,” the designer wrote on his Instagram. The video unveiling the clutch has attracted over 900,000 views in under five hours.

Anderson has pretty legit track record of launching products that resonate with social media audiences. Back in April, he introduced Loewe’s now-famous “I Told Ya” T-shirt, inspired by Zendaya’s character Tashi Donaldson in the film Challengers. The shirt quickly went viral, dominating online platforms and even being worn by stars like Jennifer Lawrence.

Through his own label, Anderson has also released unconventional accessories, including bags shaped like a pigeon, a frog, and a cushion. At Loewe’s highly acclaimed Paris Fashion Week show last September, Anderson earned a standing ovation from fellow designers such as Sarah Burton, Pieter Mulier, Adrian Appiolaza, Nicolas Di Felice, and Kris Van Assche.

The event also drew high-profile attendees like Delphine Arnault and actors Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Greta Lee, Ayo Edebiri, and Rob Lowe. The show’s set featured a sculpture by Tracey Emin—a pole with a bird resting on it. As stated in the press release, the bird is “caught in a moment of pause, she encourages us to imagine imminent flight, and ultimately its freedom.”

“It’s ultimately about admiration, I think,” Jonathan Anderson said last December in an interview. “You’re seeing someone learning from the master. In fashion, we always look at the idea of reinterpreting something as being sometimes negative, but we have been doing it in art since time immemorial. Ultimately, it is about the passing on of information or learning from depiction. So, actually, there’s something really contemporary in the idea of these two paintings sitting side by side in one of the greatest collections of art in the world