Inspiration doesn’t always come from where you expect it. Especially in our industry, where we tend to scan the same predictable sources for ideas, validation and reassurance. When you step back, it can actually feel like an echo chamber dressed up as thought leadership – safe, insular, and risk averse.
So, if you want to find real creative brilliance – the kind that really shifts your perspective – you have to look sideways. Which is exactly what I’ve done for this article.
When I was asked to think about brands that have turned my head – and why – one of the people who have inspired me most recently isn’t a brand strategist, a CMO or an influencer… it’s Jonathan Anderson, in his new role as Creative Director of everything at Christian Dior.
Yes, he may be operating in the rarefied world of haute couture and luxury fashion, but what he’s doing and how he’s doing it highlights some interesting (and hopefully inspiring) pointers and insights for anyone who cares about brand potential, creative leadership and the power of having a clear and singular vision about who and what you are as a brand.
The power of singularity
Let’s start with the obvious: Anderson’s appointment is extraordinary: it’s a singular appointment in a fragmented world. As Creative Director, he now leads Dior’s men’s, women’s, and couture lines.
“So what?” you may ask. It’s significant because it makes him the first person to do so since Christian Dior himself. When you think about this in the context of a lot of today’s big businesses which are hyper-specialized and fragmented (whether they’re consumer or B2B), this sort of creative consolidation is almost unheard of.
Most brands, including many B2B organisations, default to verticalization. They split responsibilities, create centers of excellence, assign different owners to different silos, and then wonder why their brand feels incoherent. Dior, by contrast, has handed the keys to one person.
This signals the willingness to commit to a single, unifying vision. Yes, it’s bold, and potentially risky. But it’s exactly the kind of clarity that is, in itself, inspiring.
Why? Because when you put a creative leader with genuine conviction – someone who’s not just talented but deeply thoughtful, really tuned in to both history and context – in a position and trust them to lead your brand, what you get isn’t chaos. It’s coherence. You get a brand that knows what it’s doing.
Look back, not just forward
Johnathan Anderson’s first Dior collection didn’t chase hype. It didn’t scream for attention or lean on gimmicks. It looked back – deliberately, lovingly, intelligently – at Dior’s origins.
He referenced archive garments, reinterpreted 1940s silhouettes, studied original pattern-cutting and structure. What stands out about this is that it wasn’t an exercise in nostalgia, it was strategically referential and an act of reverence.
Again, “So what?”, I can imagine you thinking. “What’s this got to do with brand?”
At a time when much of the world (in particular those in brand marketing) is obsessively future-focused – jumping on the AI-first bandwagon, trying to optimize personalization at scale, and horizon scanning for what’s next – Anderson reminds us that looking backwards can be just as progressive as looking ahead.
There’s something deeply grounding and surprisingly radical in that. I’ve worked with a lot of B2B businesses who, quite rationally, avoid looking backwards at where they came from and their heritage story. Especially in the era of digital transformation when you want your customers (and the rest of the market) to see you as progressive, ahead of the curve, or even challenging.
What Anderson and Dior show us is that brands need memory as much as momentum. And sometimes, the most modern move is to slow down, study your foundations, and rebuild with intention.
Style over hype. Substance over speed.
What strikes me most about Jonathan Anderson’s approach though, is his total disregard for noise. Everything he has done so far at Dior is not about “creating for clicks” or trying to ride trends. He’s not ‘making content’. He’s making work. Real, intelligent, layered creative work. Work that is designed to endure both as product and as brand.
In short: he’s making style, not fashion. And that’s a distinction more brands and marketers, regardless of the sector or category they exist in, would do well to understand. Fashion is temporary. Style has permanence. It carries meaning. It holds together under scrutiny. It says something specific and deliberate.
That’s why Jonathan Anderson’s work and approach has a real impact on the Dior brand for me: it’s not performative or posturing. It has depth, discipline, and the rare kind of elegance that comes from knowing what not to do.
The Creative Director as brand steward
I admire Anderson not just because he makes beautiful things (although he does), but because he carries the role of Creative Director with gravitas and grace. He’s leading with ideas, not ego. He respects the house and the brand he’s been trusted with. And he isn’t trying to dilute, stretch or adapt this across roles or demographics. He concentrates.
That kind of creative integrity and brand stewardship is hard to come by in any industry.
So, while it might feel like a stretch to find inspiration for B2B marketing in the couture salons of Paris, to me, it makes perfect sense. Jonathan Anderson exemplifies the type of brand leadership we should aspire to: culturally literate, creatively brave, and strategically exacting.
Because if there’s one thing I believe more strongly than ever, it’s this: creativity isn’t a department. It’s a way of thinking; a way of leading a brand and making decisions that hold up. Not just in a pitch deck, but in the world where you do business and want to stand out.
And Jonathan Anderson is showing us all how it’s done.
