Jonathan Anderson is the third creative director Jennifer Lawrence has worked with during her time at Dior. At just 22 years old – shortly after the release of The Hunger Games, widely considered her commercial breakout role – she became a brand ambassador and the face of Miss Dior in October 2012, just months after Raf Simons took the helm of the House. And following Simons’ departure, she continued in the role for nine years under Maria Grazia Chiuri. As Lawrence notes in her conversation for System with Jonathan Anderson, it’s been a minute: ‘I can’t remember my career without Dior. It’s been such a long and beautiful relationship. I wore a Dior wedding dress’. Since Anderson ushered in a new era in the summer of 2025, she’s graced his Dior designs to all the events that matter: from film premieres to award shows, film festivals to front rows.
Jonathan Anderson’s work has often been regarded as cinematic, so it felt like a natural progression when he began collaborating with Luca Guadagnino in 2024 – as costume designer on the director’s films Challengers and Queer. That partnership continues with Artificial, expected later this year, based on the curious episode at OpenAI in 2023, when Sam Altman was fired and rehired. Naturally, the conversation between Anderson and Lawrence – moderated by W magazine editor-in-chief Sara Moonves, who, coincidentally, received the Media Award at the CFDA Fashion Awards in November 2025 from Lawrence, a close friend – oscillates between fashion and film. They discuss the new Dior vision, the process of designing for characters, the importance of capturing quirky details on screen, and that dress at the Governor’s Awards (‘One of the first I was completely happy with,’ admits Anderson).

Sara Moonves: Let’s talk about when you first met each other, which I believe was in September.
Jennifer Lawrence: We met at my fitting for the show. And it was abundantly clear that I was going to love the clothes. Jonathan was so just free spirited with everything. He actually cared if I was comfortable and what I would have wanted and was really hands-on with styling.

And Jonathan, what was your first impression of Jen?
Jonathan Anderson: I was kind of jealous that I had never met you and that I had to join Dior to do so. And you’re way too much fun. Plus, you’re a great interviewer. I was looking at one that you had done with Leo [Variety x CNN ‘Actors on Actors’ video series, with Leonardo DiCaprio], and it was fantastic.

I wanted to ask both of you what was the first time that you saw a costume on screen that really stayed with you?
Jennifer: The first one that comes to mind is Gwyneth Paltrow’s green outfit in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Maybe that one’s too boring and obvious.
Jonathan: That’s a good one. Mine would be Roller Girl in Boogie Nights. I remember when it first came out, I was at university in D.C., sitting in a cinema when you could still smoke in them. I remember leaving Ireland, going to D.C. having never been to America, getting a pack of Marlboro Reds and smoking the entire box while watching Boogie Nights. I came out, like, high!

Amazing. I was Roller Girl for Halloween, just so you guys know. Three years in a row, with my roller skates on. So, something I just learned about Jonathan, even though we’ve been friends for 20 years, was that you went to acting school.
Jonathan: I wanted to do Shakespeare, and I was in the National Youth Music Theatre,2 and I then got a scholarship to go to the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company to study Shakespeare. I went there for two years and realised that I was really bad at it. I spent most of my time in the costume department because I was completely obsessed with this big, burly Black guy who was the queen of the costume department. And that’s where I fell in love with the idea of making characters, this idea that you could use all this fabric and come up with something. Sometimes you have to find out what you’re really bad at to know what you’re really good at.

And Jen, what was your early experience of acting?
Jennifer: I didn’t go to acting school, I just started auditioning for commercials. I moved to New York and then eventually got on a sitcom. So, I guess the sitcom would have been my first kind of regular training.

What was the sitcom?
Jennifer: It was called The Bill Engvall Show. Nobody saw it. Which worked out great because I got to audition for movies while I was doing it, and then I got Winter’s Bone [in 2010] on one of the hiatuses of the show.

What was an early moment in your career where a costume or an accessory transformed your character and you felt like the clothes were helping you?
Jennifer: That happens every time. The costume really helps me figure out who the character is because it’s how they present themselves. It’s how they want to be perceived. But I guess one costume that jumps out would be the Mockingjay costume from The Hunger Games, because you put on this battle armour and obviously hold yourself differently. There had been all this lead up to her becoming the Mockingjay, and so having the Mockingjay outfit was kind of a big deal.

Jen as the actor, Jonathan as the costume designer: what are those conversations like in the beginning, to make a character with the clothes?
Jennifer: It starts out really broad and then it gets narrowed down just to each day. And it’s a creative conversation about who this person is and how they’ll present themselves.
Jonathan: For me, it depends on the film. I remember when I did Challengers,
Zendaya would work in a certain type of way; she knew exactly what 1990s reference she wanted. So you would be working around the archetypes that she had in her head of the character, and then encouraging ways in which that can flow as an arc. Or you have someone like Daniel [Craig] who wants to be completely immersed in the entire process of what the clothing is like: ‘What is the underwear? What is the shoe? Can the shoe be worn in this way? I want it worn in this way, so it might help me walk differently.’ When you’re doing a film, it’s quite liberating because it’s stuff that you’ve never designed before. You’re referencing things that you’ve never designed, but you’re reinterpreting them in terms of what the actor and director want. Luca [Guadagnino], for example, knows exactly what he wants from a scene.

What is the process like of being a costume designer when you are fully immersed in being a fashion designer at the same time?
Jonathan: The first time I did it was Challengers. It was shot in Boston, so it was nice to get out of Paris. I was petrified about doing it in the first place because Luca, instead of doing just individual costumes, he wanted the entire thing – background, everything. This is a bit daunting when you’ve never done it. Now I have done a few more, for me it’s like a refuge. It’s a kind of escapism from my reality.

Jen, are there any costumes that you’ve worn in films that you kept, like your wardrobe in American Hustle?
Jennifer: You know, I always end up dressing like my character when I’m working. So when I wrap I keep a lot of the costumes. I’m like: ‘Oh, my God, I’m totally going to wear this shirt and these pants. And these are my new shoes. This is the new me.’ And then I bring them home. Obviously it just doesn’t work out that way. It’s a totally different style. And then I can’t get rid of them because they’re memorabilia. I don’t even have a trunk for this kind of stuff. So, I literally have Hunger Games boots in my closet with my other boots.
You’ll pull something out of my closet and be like, ‘Eugh, what is this?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s from Die My Love, so we can’t get rid of it.’

Speaking of Die My Love, the clothes were so simple and real but they help you understand the character right away.
Jennifer: Catherine George was our costume designer and she’s a genius. She did something that was so helpful to me as a performer, and I think the audience. Our characters in the movie were new to town, so our costumes made us stick out like sore thumbs. We looked like city people coming into a small town. As the time passed in the movie and we had been there longer, my clothes start to blend in more with my surroundings. So for me, playing somebody who is getting further and further and further away from their sanity, being able to clock what wardrobe I had that day helped me place myself and where I was in the world of the movie, and where I was in her mindscape.

I loved every time you put on the shoes. When you were walking, when you were pushing the baby stroller over to your mother-in-law’s house, it is exactly the right footwear for those moments. It was just brilliant. Jonathan, now being at Dior – and Christian Dior was nominated for an Oscar in the 1950s – do you want to continue your work in costume design?
Jonathan: I just finished wrapping a film at the end of last year, Artificial, which is about Sam Altman. I never knew Christian Dior was nominated for an Oscar. Wow! There we go. fact-finding.

I think both of you have a very distinct personal style. Jonathan, you were quoted about James Dean and his style, that you would watch Rebel Without a Cause while wearing his clothes. How does your personal style influence how you design clothes, whether costume or fashion?
Jonathan: When I was younger – like, when I was non-gay, and realising that by looking at James Dean I actually was gay – I became completely obsessed with him. I had to have Lee jeans. There was something about him, this idea of the archetype. I think, weirdly, in my personal style, I’ve always compared it to cooking. If you ever cook a meal for people, it is difficult to eat it. I find that with clothing. I like a uniform. I went to a school that had a school uniform. So, in the morning, I need to not have to think about my own clothes, because all day I will have to think about clothing. So, in the end it’s a navy sweater and a pair of jeans.

The way you put a show together, over your entire career, it’s always felt like a movie. I think specifically your Spring/Summer 2026 show for Dior, which started with the short film that Adam Curtis made. Do you think of it in that way sometimes? And how did the Adam Curtis collaboration come about as the first moment anyone would see womenswear under Jonathan’s Dior?
Jonathan: One of my favourite documentaries is HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis. I think he’s got a very good way of taking a long period of history and condensing it into a collage of imagery that tells you a story. I thought, in a weird way, for Dior, I needed to somehow create a white space that you either hated or loved, because it could not be just like, ‘Oh, Dior is nice.’ It had to be a confrontation, to split the crowd. Adam had taken all these amazing designers who have added to this brand, and you’re kind of saying: ‘Well, this is the legacy of the house and therefore it has to break itself down and rebuild itself.’ By working on that process with him, I realised that, like with any creative field – for example, if an actor wins an Oscar for the very first performance they ever do, where do you go from there? You don’t have the before, you don’t have the after, you don’t have the in-between. You have to have an arc. So, in a weird way, I had to work out a way to do a show that was going to be able to say, ‘These are things that we will tackle over a five-year period.’ It cannot resolve itself straight away.

Completely. Just going back to personal style, Jen, I think yours is probably the most talked about on W. You’re always in our top 10 every week! There are also so many Instagram fan feeds dedicated to every single piece of clothing you wear. How do you get dressed knowing that is all out there?
Jennifer: As hard as it is to believe, I try very hard not to think about it too much because otherwise I would be paralysed and never be able to get dressed. It’s just been a part of my life that I’ve accepted. They take pictures and then leave me alone for the rest of the day. So, when I’m looking for clothes, I’m really just thinking about where I’m going. I like things to be simple and comfortable. There are things that I get excited about doing, but I try not to think about it.

What is an outfit that you feel the most ‘you’ in? What are you most comfortable in? Is it jeans and a T-shirt? Is it a dress?
Jennifer: Well, jeans are not comfortable. I would say a Colby pant and a cashmere sweater. Or a Freecity.

Freecity sweatpants! Jonathan, do you know about Freecity? It’s a very LA thing. There was a store in LA called Ron Herman when I was growing up, and there was this brand there called Freecity that made the most comfy sweatpants ever. It still exists. Jen and I are going to bring you a pair to Paris. Very unchic. You’ll hate them! But, Jen, you’ve been an ambassador of Dior for over a decade now and I’m thinking back to when you won the Oscar wearing Dior couture. What has Dior meant to your life as an actress? Because, you know, you’re going to have a new era. Jonathan’s about to do his new couture show. What have those dresses meant to you?
Jennifer: I can’t even remember my career without Dior. It’s been such a long and beautiful relationship. I wore a Dior wedding dress. Every huge landmark in my life, I have Dior on my body. I was a huge fan of Jonathan before he started working at Dior, and so this is a really, really special experience.

Jonathan, I know how excited you were to work with Jen when you got to Dior.
Jonathan: Thank God that she was a brand ambassador when I joined. I find you super inspiring. You know what I love about you, Jen, is that you are real. When we had dinner that evening after the show, it was such a relief to me.
When you step into a brand and inherit the legacy of the designers who came before you, it’s nerve-wracking, because you’re joining a cast that’s already in motion – if you know what I mean?
Jennifer: Yeah.
Jonathan: I love so many films that you’ve done. Really, truly. I’ve watched them several times – and there are not many films I can watch several times. I think you’re really inspiring for people in general because there’s not some sort of weird calculated system around your persona. It’s just you being you.
Jennifer: Oh my God, thank you.
Jonathan: I think today, there are so many actresses where it’s like a whole machine…
Jennifer: Name them.
Jonathan: [Laughs] You know I can’t – though I’d love to. There’s a preconceived idea that, to become an award-winning actor, you have to be a certain ‘thing’. It’s very cookie-cutter. When we had that dinner, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, you’re so much more than I ever dreamed.’ I’ve always felt that the relationship between a designer and a brand ambassador is complicated. You’re asking someone to wear the brand, and that comes with a whole set of expectations. I never want it to stop being fun. I respect people’s free time and how they choose to spend it. At the same time, I have a responsibility to the brand – and the reality is that it’s a business. You’re constantly trying to strike a balance, but that process can strip emotion out of relationships, because everything becomes transactional. That’s the part I’ve always struggled with. You want to go to dinner and simply have dinner, not feel obliged to say, ‘Right, we’re here, now we need to take the picture. Let’s stand next to someone.’ There’s nothing worse for me. If there’s one thing I wish I could change about this job, it’s the post-show photocall. I don’t feel like people genuinely want to take a picture with me – it’s the strangest protocol fashion has ever invented.
Jennifer: I know, I hate it too. I feel so bad. Everybody is swarming you, and then I have to join them and attack you. It’s the worst.
Jonathan: Like my best friend Ben [Bruno], who is the stylist of the show, when the show finishes Ben is running out the door, he’s just like, ‘Bye bye’. All I want to do is run out the door with him. You just want a sofa and a television afterwards. But I’m very glad that you were there, because you’re real. And if I was a woman, I would want to look like you.

That’s a good line! I think the moment that stands out in terms of Jen wearing your clothes thus far, is that incredible white dress that I believe was for the Governors Awards. Jonathan and I were texting saying, ‘This is unreal, she looked so amazing.’ How was the process of designing that dress? And Jen, how did it feel to wear it?
Jonathan: When I joined Dior, I was building everything at once. You have to bring your own hand, while also putting together a couture team, a womenswear team, a menswear team, a VIP team, and several others. It was an incredibly chaotic moment. That dress was one of the first I was completely happy with. I micromanaged it, because I kept thinking, ‘We have to get this fucking right.’ And I thought you looked fantastic in it.
Jennifer: I loved it. It was my favourite dress I’ve ever worn.
Jonathan: You looked hot. It just sat perfectly on you. It’s a complicated shape to get right, but it looked brilliant.
Jennifer: It’s happened a couple times when I’ve put your stuff on where it seems like it’s going to either be hard to wear or not going to be flattering – having that ruching on your waist is famously unflattering! Somehow, though, it’s like magic, the way it moves. You really know your way around clothes.
Jonathan: I’m learning here. The thing about Dior is that it’s known for a certain type of structure. You’re trying to work out what the new language of the structure is. Dior created this idea of building clothing like architecture. So, you would build an under structure, then another layer of structure. You’re trying to work out a way to bring Dior’s hand and my hand into a super talented atelier. At the time of us doing this interview, we haven’t done a couture show yet, so I’m losing all my hair over trying to do that. When you’ve had someone like John Galliano at a brand, the bar is very, very high. But, it’ll slowly evolve. I’m trying to be patient. My new mantra this year is to be patient.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what you’re thinking about with couture?
Jonathan: I’m looking at the history of the house and it is going to go back to the theatrics. There’s a lot of major coats in it for daywear as well. It’s going to be a bit more like day-to-crazy-nighttime. It’s all based on this idea of Lee Radziwill coming out of an opera. She’s layering a skirt, and there’s fur and all the accessories are insane. All the rings are mounted meteorites. It’s going to go from fantasy right through to a 100 per cent cashmere floor-length coat with a big belt and a pair of tuxedo pants with no bra. It’s going to be a bit of a smorgasbord of different things. It’s going to look to Dior, it’s going to draw on the theatrics of John [Galliano], the essence of Marc Bohan, it’s going to take all this in, get thrown into a blender, and then
I will probably be executed in the press.

Jen, when you’re getting ready for the red carpet are there style icons you have in mind, or reference pictures of people you’re pulling up?
Jennifer: It’s different for every look, but if I had to generalise, I stay pretty much in the supermodel 1990s.

Jonathan, I love that you’ve been referencing American style icons like Lee Radziwill and Basquiat. And I feel like Jen’s just the perfect ambassador for your Dior.
Jonathan: When Dior started after the war, the only people that had money were the Americans. In Europe there was no money left. So, it was over to the Americans. They were our aristocrats. It’s playing on this idea that there’s nothing better than an aristocrat who’s lost all their money. They still have all the clothing, and they still look major.
Jennifer: Well, money can’t buy you class.
Jonathan: Exactly.