Dear Shaded Viewers,
Astrology, talismans and tiny creatures of luck no longer sit on the bridge of the nose but dance along the edges of the lenses and, most importantly, on the side pieces that eclipse the logo in Jonathan Anderson’s new Dior frames, for men and women turning eyewear into miniature altars to the house codes.This collection feels like the moment when Dior’s myth of “good fortune” migrates from the handbag handle to the line of vision, with constellations, flowers, ladybugs, bows and clovers now orbiting around the eyes as if the lenses were a private horoscope. It is romantic, slightly witchy, and completely in tune with Anderson’s instinct for transforming objects into characters rather than mere accessories.
Astrology appears as subtle cosmic tracery – symbolic stars and signs more suggested than shouted, as if your glasses were a birth chart only you can read. Flowers unfold along the temples like pressed blossoms saved inside a diary, echoing the floral stories told elsewhere in the collection. Ladybugs and clover, long-time omens of good luck in the Dior universe, now crawl delicately along the arms of the frames; they behave like talismans instead of logos, winking only when the light catches them. Bows wrap the edge of the front of the frame like a punctuation mark of femininity, a three-dimensional parenthesis framing the face rather than a cliché perched on top of the head. These aren’t motifs printed onto sunglasses; they feel like pieces of jewelry discreetly soldered onto vision.
My favorite is DIOROBLIQUE B1I a delicate amphibian green that lives somewhere between lichen and porcelain. It looks like the color of a storybook frog , a pale frog, paused just before its transformation, which gives the frame a narrative about becoming rather than simply seeing. The shade softens the face instead of overpowering it.
Architecturally, the fronts stay reassuringly classic – ovals, softened squares, discreet cat‑eyes – so the experimentation happens on the arms, where Dior’s codes are engraved, perched or threaded like charms. From straight on, they feel appropriate for everyday life, from Avenue Montaigne appointments to the Paris metro. But once you turn your head, the profile tells a different story: a bunch of flowers, a bow, a ladybug, a sliver of clover. These are frames that behave politely face‑to‑face, and then turn into talismans in three‑quarter view – Dior luck, literally worn at eye level. The men’s eyewear, meanwhile, carries a modern refinement – reintroducing the typographic “Dior” mark drawn from the 1946 archives, these frames trace a quiet elegance that feels both singular and enduring.
Later,
Diane
