“Old Hollywood Glamour” is probably the most used phrase reviewers and news agencies would deploy to describe Dior by Jonathan Anderson’s collection presented at the newly minted LACMA Wing in Los Angeles. Here’s the kicker with many Western institutions today: in a recurring cycle, they merge two pre-millennial cultural waves and frame the result as a semi-anthropological exploration across art, fashion, music, or simply a speculative “what if?” scenario. Today, it’s “Dior goes to Hollywood” splashed across the headlines. A few months back, “Vogue goes to Hollywood”. Before that came countless other exercises in cultural crossover framed as rediscovery. But after all, that has always been the core function of a Cruise collection. So, what exactly sets Dior apart from the rest?
Perspective. Dior’s been an institutional powerhouse ever since the invention of the New Look.
Most importantly, the New Look silhouette helped define an entire era of fashion. Around the same period, Old Hollywood stars of the 1950s, like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly began wearing Christian Dior’s designs to red carpets, movie premieres, and public appearances. These weren’t your everyday frocks that you’d find randomly on a Tumblr page or a Pinterest board either. They were garments that were arguably crucial to the visual mythology of Old Hollywood itself.
Now, decades later in 2026., Dior once again finds itself at centre stage. Except its different this time. The first model didn’t show up in the New Look. Rather, she donned a drop waisted dress, inspired by Californian poppies. Then, the Bar jacket showed up fourth down the runway, paired with ripped jeans.
It was then clear that the Dior we know today has evolved past referencing old tropes. Anderson is asking of us to look beyond superficial references. In an age defined by the endlessly expanding internet, limitless information at our fingertips, and everyone seemingly armed with a professional opinion on fashion (as Raf Simons once famously observed, “Fashion is the new pop”.) Nobody really wants to see yet another recreation of Marilyn Monroe singing about diamonds being her best friend, or her dress billowing above a subway grate.
The contemporary audience is simply too oversaturated with cyclical pop-culture imagery that has been recycled for nearing a century. So, what does Jonathan Anderson do? Nothing related of the sort. Back the original point. If Dior was once at the forefront of writing the imagery of Old Hollywood, it gives them full rights to return to form and redefine it to better reflect the modern audience.
Dior once lost its cultural relevancy for a good decade in the mid-to-late 2010s. Nobody could recreate the trailblazing chapter that was John Galliano when he became Creative Director in the late 90s. Anderson plays his cards in a directly opposite direction. Instead of self-imbuing references, the Cruise 2027 collection charters unfamiliar territory. It’s not scary or super unfamiliar per se, but it has Dior + Jonathan written all over it. New Hollywood Glamour should be the correct term applied. Ultimately, the collection is meant to sell and cater towards the stars and starlets of the 21st Century. The abstract methodologies deployed by the new Dior mean new silhouettes, new designs, a newer, refreshed energy that could possibly define (or better yet, birth) a new era of Hollywood that has yet to be witnessed.
As Dior revisits Hollywood mythology for a new era, the question is simple: will it resonate?
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our May 2026 issue.