The House of Dior has created a fashion odyssey that will be the key installation inside the French Pavilion at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, which opens this Sunday.
Dior Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi
Dior’s display is a blend of fine art, haute couture, sporting excellence, architecture, fragrances, original sketches, 3D printing and hundreds of toiles.
The Paris-based couture maison is very much on a full-court press in Japan. On Tuesday, it stages its fall women’s ready-to-wear collection in the historic city of Kyoto. Today, it released its latest campaign, where the house’s couturier, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is inspired by the Land of the Rising Sun. Seen in a series of graceful, poetic shots by Yuriko Takagi, a faithful collaborator of the house, the campaign features a fusion of Japanese savoir-faire and French couture through designs that revisit the traditional kimono jacket, with its ample and enveloping lines adorned by an enchanting garden sketched on silk.
Embroidered silhouettes from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi
In Osaka, Dior’s installation is organized around the theme of “Hymne à l’amour,” in a tribute to the fervor for craftsmanship and handmade work, reflecting the excellence of Parisian haute couture.
A plural homage to the beauty produced by gestures, embodied alternately by a Rodin sculpture, the timeless Bar suit – a symbol of Dior elegance presented in three variations: blue, white and red – and by the legendary “Amphores Tricolores” designed by Christian Dior in 1949 and reissued for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Echoing the first vocation of Christian Dior, who aspired to become an architect before turning to couture, is the Lady Dior bag reinterpreted by Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima for the “Lady Dior – As Seen By” project in 2024.
Back in Paris, Sejima’s best-known building is the futurist glass structure that ripples along the Rue de Rivoli, acting as the entrance to the Art Nouveau La Samaritaine department store, which is controlled by luxury conglomerate LVMH, the owner of Dior.
Signature looks with floral embroidery from Dior’s Fall 2025 campaign – Yuriko Takagi
Turning to fashion, precious three-dimensional expressions of original sketches and more than 400 emblematic white toiles—presented on different scales—are spotlighted at the heart of a monumental installation. All are placed alongside bottles of iconic Dior fragrances, reinterpreted through 3D printing. In the center, Dior models come to life in poetic images created by Japanese artist Yuriko Takagi.
The installation features a dreamlike choreography punctuated by the works of Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, who revisited the iconic Medallion chair in 2021.
Footwear brand Koio and espresso machine maker La Marzocco have teamed up to launch an exclusive capsule collection.
Koio and La Marzocco launch limited-edition capsule collection. – Koio X La Marzocco
Launching on Friday, the Koio x La Marzocco capsule includes a custom Koio Capri sneaker and a bespoke La Marzocco Linea Mini espresso machine, available in a sophisticated grey colorway. The collection is a tribute to the cities that shaped them including Florence, where both brands craft their products, and New York, where their aesthetics thrive.
“This carefully chosen hue symbolizes the connection between Florence and New York City—bridging Florence’s artisanal legacy with New York’s dynamic urban spirit. Grey captures the understated sophistication and constant movement of New York’s streets, echoing the concrete and steel of the city while simultaneously paying tribute to the timeless stone facades and enduring craftsmanship of Florence,” explained the brands.
Handmade in Florence, the Koio Capri sneaker features luxurious grey suede and subtle branding details, including La Marzocco’s iconic lion emblem. The matching Linea Mini espresso machine mirrors this tonal elegance, adorned with custom Koio x La Marzocco hardware.
The limited-edition Koio x La Marzocco sneaker will retail for $295 and will be available exclusively online and Koio’s Soho flagship store at 199 Lafayette Street. To celebrate the launch, Koio is hosting a La Marzocco espresso pop-up on April 19 at the Soho location.
In a world of uncertainty, one thing remains a given: Ralph Lauren delivers beautifully timeless quality clothing. He remains true to a classic vision demonstrative of good tastes that, depending on the current Zeitgeist in fashion or even the world at large, hits better according to how the collection presents.
Ralph Lauren fall 2025 collection New York City – Courtesy
For his Fall 2025 show, Lauren’s vision nailed a style of dress that seems to meet the moment in both what we want in our closest and how to present ourselves in a world that is changing in unexpected and even shocking ways.
Had he not become a designer, it’s not hard to imagine that Lauren would have gone into filmmaking. His business was founded when the Bronx-born New Yorker was looking to Fred Astaire and old Hollywood style when he launched his collection of wide ties in 1967, which jump-started his fashion career. (Not to mention his costume design for “Annie Hall,” “The Great Gatsby” and the bevy of memorable red carpet dressing for today’s Hollywood elite.)
Hollywood was also not in short supply as guests included Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Naomi Watts, “White Lotus” star Sarah Catherine Hook, “The Studio” star and Anna Sui‘s niece Chase Sui Wonders, and Kacey Musgraves, among others.
Ralph Lauren fall 2025 collection New York City – Courtesy
Thus, his shows often feel like cinematic theater. For Fall 2025, dubbed “The Modern Romantics,” he chose a location that even the most seasoned New Yorker wondered aloud ‘What is this place?’ as they entered. That place was the Jack Shainman Gallery in the landmarked Clock Tower building at 46 Lafayette Street just north of City Hall, which features a bevy of government buildings in the French Renaissance and English Neoclassicism styles made by the same firm McKim, Mead & White.
The Jack Shainman Gallery sits in the main room of an exquisitely Beaux Art bank, whose ceiling could be stared at for hours. On one end was a marble staircase from which models descended to the runway, most boldly forgoing the railing.
Show notes described this season’s Ralph Lauren woman as “self-assured and unbound by rules, with plays of masculine and feminine and rugged and refined, enriches by artisanal craft that elevates to heirloom level.” Despite the Gilded Age scenery, Lauren’s girl exuded a specific look in the 1980s when the preppy craze was at its height. Though this particular lady may have a penchant for the classics, she also had sensual flair. Not to be confused with British New Romantics, she gravitated towards frilly ruffled blouses; in Dandy-slash-officer style, she tucked her pants into tall leather boots or skipped the step by simply wearing knickers that achieved the look.
Ralph Lauren fall 2025 collection in New York City – Courtesy
(As a viewer who has pined for this particular dress to come back, which is to say that Lauren succeeded where other European brands have failed.) A sequin sampler sweater with hand-beaded roses also gave a direct nod to the era by referencing model Clotilde Holby from a campaign in the decade of excess. She displayed a strong yet vulnerable front in a somber color palette that often combined brown and black. Those white pirates-meet-Victorian blouses were worn open or tied under class sweaters, tweeds, a leather bustier top for a hint of subversiveness, or a hand-distressed vintage bomber jacket. Leathers—as a bustier with camel wool, a strictly slim skirt, a shearling vest, a moto-esque jacket, leather palazzo pants, or a pièce de résistance, as a boiler suit, gave the offerings fierceness. Texture demonstrated artisanal craft, whether a suede blazer that morphed into leather on a color or a brown Mongolian wrap with leather fringe. Wardrobe builders such as tailored wool suiting in camel or grey, chunky cable knits, Fair Isles, and floor duster topcoats soon gave way to the Ralph Lauren evening looks.
Ralph Lauren fall 2025 collection in New York City – Courtesy
Here, she became her most sensual with a camisole and halter-style gowns. Pattern appeared as a watercolor floral that had an Orientalism vibe. The stunners, though, were made from white lace, a tiered style looked like an antique textile. Of course, Victor Victoria’s male-female dichotomy also has the former side; thus, pants are shown with a black-tie vest and the lace handkerchief detail necklines, a purple beaded dressing coat, or a sheer back top. Several styles, such as a cream satin-finish velvet halter gown with extravagant black necktie, a tiered black chiffon and lace gown, and a stern black capelet gown with white cuffs and ruffled collar seemed apropos for any VIP engagement the starlets in the room might have. There were a few nods to “Annie Hall,” especially timely as Sui Wonders character Quinn Hackett wears a suit and tie daily to her budding movie executive gig. But more so, the menswear styles doused with feminine touches seemed pragmatic, especially when grounded in tall leather boots with a sensible chunky heel and carrying an unfussy, relaxed satchel; they had a uniform quality and, in dodgy times, dressing with an air of authority and ready for anything seems apt.
Ralph Lauren fall 2025 collection in New York City – Courtesy
Clothes can change a mood and give the wearer and the viewer a sense of conviction. So can Mr. Lauren, who took his bow from the balcony above the room where the models descended from, waving to his guests, assuring us that he is here. Thus, all is well in the world. For now.
The eagerly awaited announcement has finally been made. Jonathan Anderson is joining Dior, where he will take charge of the menswear collections. The leading label of luxury group LVMH has confirmed to FashionNetwork.com that Anderson has been named “creative director of the men’s collections,” adding that the Northern Irish designer will stage his first Dior Men show at 2:30 pm CET on June 27 in Paris. The announcement was anticipated by LVMH boss Bernard Arnault himself, at the general meeting of the group’s shareholders.
Jonathan Anderson – Courtesy
Anderson, 40, is renowned for his great creativity. On March 17 he left Loewe, the LVMH-owned Spanish leather goods label, where he has been replaced as creative director by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, designers of Proenza Schouler.
Under Anderson’s aegis, Loewe, a second-tier label in LVMH’s brand galaxy, has literally exploded in the last 10 years. According to Bernstein analyst Luca Solca, “in just over 10 years, Loewe has more than quadrupled its revenue which, according to our estimates, topped the €1.5 billion mark last year.”
When Anderson left Loewe, having captivated the public with his quirky, unique creations, the label said that “Loewe has experienced exceptional growth and established itself as a pioneer by offering a modern vision of luxury and culture, while staying true to its long-standing commitment to artisanal craftsmanship.”
Among Anderson’s notable hits, the best-selling Puzzle messenger bag, priced at approximately €3,000. Anderson’s pixelated looks, his anthurium dresses, a version of which was worn at a red-carpet event by Zendaya, and the pumps with rose and egg-shaped heels caught the eye of industry insiders and aficionados alike. He has also collaborated with the film industry in a number of movies, and outfitted James Bond actor Daniel Craig in a memorable Loewe campaign.
“Besides shaping [Loewe’s] creative and cultural direction and having a significant impact on the fashion industry, Jonathan Anderson has overseen the launch of the Craft Prize through the Loewe Foundation: an initiative dedicated to preserving and highlighting the instances of artisanal expertise that are being lost around the world,” said Loewe.
At a time when ancestral techniques and handcrafting expertise, as guarantors of a brand’s authenticity, have become core values for luxury houses, this kind of know-how and Anderson’s passion for artisanal craftsmanship, associated with his ability to reinvent and breathe new life into products, will be an undeniable asset for Dior.
Storytelling ability
Anderson was born in Northern Ireland in 1984, and studied at the London College of Fashion. After graduating in 2005, he worked in visual merchandising at Prada and as a consultant for several brands, before launching his own label JW Anderson in 2008, first with a menswear line, and later adding women’s ready-to-wear. He soon made a name for himself with his bold, inventive creations, and was especially successful with his directional, highly attractive fashion accessories.
Anderson, who loves literature and is a hard-working perfectionist, is distinctive for the way he conceives his collections as narratives. His signature touch very quickly became recognisable through his often genderless silhouettes, characterised by skilful work on textures and volumes.
Anderson has won many prizes, and was named British designer of the year in 2023 and 2024 for his work at Loewe and his own label. He has built a loyal fan base, attracting an eclectic mix of international artists to Loewe’s annual Craft Prize.
His appointment at Dior, announced on the sidelines of the LVMH shareholders’ meeting, came as something of a surprise, virtually coinciding with LVMH being overtaken by Hermès in terms of market capitalisation, and posting a revenue downturn in Q1 2025. Is it a way of diverting attention during this complex phase for LVMH?
Anderson’s appointment is also surprising as he was expected to take charge of Dior’s womenswear collections too. The fact that he has currently been put in charge of design at Dior Men only, where he is succeeding Kim Jones, who left at the end of January, will surely fuel further speculation within a frenetic luxury market, in the wake of the recent appointments of Demna (full name Demna Gvasalia) as creative director of Gucci, and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel.