STYLE OUT DREAM WEAVER

FOR HIS DEBUT at Dior, Jonathan Anderson worked with prolific textile artist Sheila Hicks to reimagine the house's epochal Lady Dior bag with texture, utility, movement, and fun. The bags, which were shown draped over shoulders or tucked under arms, their tassel details bouncing down the runway, signal that Anderson's love of craft and collaboration continue beyond his tenure at Loewe and onto his mantle at Dior. Hicks has long been a font of inspiration for the fashion world, a fact that she's well aware of. "Every year, there's one of them," she once told The New Yorker of designers who cite her. Anderson, whom Hicks describes as an "art enthusiast and collector," was ultimately drawn to Hicks's ponytail motif—one she first exhibited in 1969. Over the course of three months, the pair "refined the arrangement and integration of the ponytails into the Lady Dior, even rethinking its interior.. .reflecting Sheila's attention to both aesthetics and function," Anderson said. How does this relate to Hicks's work at large? "It's inextricably linked," she said. The result is a creation emblematic of the shared values between Dior and Hicks, which are, according to Anderson, "a deep curiosity for material and form, a reverence for craftsmanship, and an avant-garde spirit grounded in historical knowledge."

DAISY SHAW-ELLIS