As amused as I am by the thought, that\u2019s not the connection the designer is looking to establish. Dior has had a long relationship with Hollywood, which Anderson is looking to honor. There\u2019s also the quiet part: The U.S. remains a crucial market in luxury, and Dior is not alone in cozying up to its American clientele\u2014Chanel had a show in New York in December, where Gucci and Louis Vuitton each have shows coming up on Saturday and Wednesday, respectively, and Herm\u00e8s is hosting in LA next month.<\/p>\n
The house tour I embarked on is more illustrative of the theme of this adult field trip: I\u2019m visiting Dawnridge, the famed home of Tony Duquette, the late interior, furniture, and costume designer who, as we\u2019re told by his former business partner and protege Hutton Wilkinson, was friends with Monsieur Dior after they met during Duquette\u2019s first Europe tour in 1947.<\/p>\n
Wilkinson, who now owns the house, is an old Hollywood-style gem and a soundbite generator\u2014as a colleague says, he talks like he was plucked out of a Vanity Fair<\/em> feature of yore: \u201cThis land was bought for $1500, less than Dior sunglasses,\u201d he says, starting his tour. \u201cShe was the first person to charge for taste,\u201d he says of Elsie de Wolfe, the socialite and interior designer who discovered Duquette and is credited as one of the first female interior decorators. He speaks of the many dinner parties thrown at the home, with the likes of Gene Kelly and Hubert de Givenchy and Roy Lichtenstein.<\/p>\n Al Pacino<\/p>\n <\/span>Stefanie Keenan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Jayden Spears<\/p>\n <\/span>Stefanie Keenan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Later, when I arrive at LACMA for the show in an SUV filled with editors-in-chief\u2014great for my ego!\u2014we start placing bets on the stars who\u2019ll most likely be in attendance. Sabrina Carpenter, who donned multiple Dior looks during her headlining sets at Coachella, is a sure bet, and when she arrives late, she\u2019s wearing the first look in the collection: a loose and sheer butter yellow frock decorated with some blossoming flowers. It\u2019s one of many great frocks in Anderson\u2019s collection\u2014he\u2019s found his way around something many male designers oftentimes struggle with, and which I consider crucial to designing for a house like Dior: how to make a pretty, comfortable dress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/media.vanityfair.com\/photos\/6a06248d6ed4c8aa638b0f1d\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/JAYDEN_SPEARS_4X5.jpg\"\/)
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