It is officially fashion month in the industry.  New York Fashion Week begins today, the fashion people head over to London next week, then Milan the week after, culminating in Paris at the end of the month, which is where Jonathan Anderson’s next collection for Dior spring/summer 2027 will be presented. But he and the house are getting off to an early start, pulling some online focus away from NYC to announce a new strategic vision for the brand.

But before we get into that, for months now, advertising and marketing experts have been talking about a major creative shift in the industry. It’s not that advertising is new; it’s not that advertising and entertainment and storytelling, films and television and music etc etc, have never been in conversation with each other. For decades now, these relationships are inextricable. Brand placements are becoming almost pedestrian, no matter what you’re watching – look for it in Practical Magic 2, opening in theatres today. Barbie, the movie, was basically a very savvy two-hour commercial for Mattel featuring major Hollywood players in front of and behind the camera.

What’s new, however, is how they’ve innovated. And the big story in brand reach is that many of the bigger brands are now launching their own studios. ADWEEK had a piece about this back in March, The Hollywood Reporter also just last month. As Liz Walaszczyk, the head of entertaining marketing at WME (one of the top three Hollywood talent agencies) told THR:

“Brands trying to reach mass audiences, Hollywood having mastered it in a way through entertainment, it’s just another, another example of how those forces joining and coming together can lead to bigger, greater, better work.”

I don’t know if I agree that “greater” and “better” work will result when a brand is fronting the funds to make a film or a series around their products. It’s already sh-tty when studio executives (who used to be venture capitalists) are giving notes to proper creatives about writing when they can barely write an email, now the notes might be coming from people whose first and arguably only priority is to move golf clubs. But, more and more, this is where we are now.

In Dior’s case though, it looks a little different. Dior hasn’t launched their own studio but today they announced that the internet’s favourite studio, with its own cult following, is basically their studio – A24. This isn’t coming out of nowhere, of course. Jonathan Anderson and A24 have had an ongoing relationship for a while. He was the costume designer on Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, an A24 film co-starring Drew Starkey, who stars, along with other huge names, in the short film announcing the partnership that dropped today.

There was no question that Jonathan would continue to advance his film work even after being confirmed as Dior’s creative director for both women and menswear. What’s most interesting here is, as we see in the film, Jonathan Anderson is the main character! All these actors – Sabrina Carpenter, Josh O’Connor, Camille Cottin, Sophie Wilde, and the aforementioned Drew Starkey –  are playing him. These are all Dior regulars and specifically Dior-Jonathan Anderson regulars – though I’m surprised that Greta Lee isn’t involved in some way. And the conceit of the piece is that they’re trying to perfect Jonathan’s runway walk at the end of a show.

I like the concept. I like the tone. I don’t know that it tells us anything about what this partnership will yield going forward. But it’s directed by Aidan Zamiri, whose first feature, The Moment, with Charli XCX, was released earlier this year – and yes, A24 distributed it, so there is a case to be made here that there’s tonal synchronicity, or at least some quality control? Dior is, well, Dior. And A24 is the luxury fashion house equivalent of a movie studio. Also, their names even rhyme: Dior and A24. I guess it was inevitable.

Duana’s PS – I wasn’t planning to jump in here at all. But when Lainey sent this post, and then I read the line about ‘quality control’ – I had to add that there have been eyerolls and giggles at Dior’s expense this week. Because you see, their Winter Men’s campaign features Lakeith Stanfield soulfully stroking a violin… that does not have the benefit of a BRIDGE:

When I informed Lainey, she initially dismissed this as violin nerdery… until I explained this is the equivalent of posing someone in the driver’s seat of a car that doesn’t have a steering wheel. A violin without a bridge is just a wooden box. I know it’s not super mainstream, but it’s the most common kid instrument! It’s statistically impossible that nobody on this shoot noticed this and brought it up, leading me to believe someone did and the answer was ‘whatever, it’s fine’.  Then again, he plucks the violin and we hear a HARP, so maybe realism is too much to ask. 

Photo credits:  Jumeau Alexis/ABACA/Shutterstock

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