LOS ANGELES has long had a way of bringing out the unexpected from fashion designers. The light – both sun and stage, I would argue – the mythology, the sense that normal rules don’t quite apply. Jonathan Anderson’s first resort collection for Dior, shown at LACMA earlier this month, leaned into all of it. Particularly for the men.

Anderson’s debut Cruise collection marked an early milestone for the Irish designer, becoming the first time that menswear and womenswear shared a runway. Anderson (the only creative director in the house’s history to design across both) used the occasion to do something worth noting.

One of the Maison’s most important sartorial codes, the Bar jacket was reworked in metallic tweed and pulled in at the proportion, smaller and sharper than expected. Donegal tweeds unravelled at the hem. Wool flannel coats were striped with the geometric shadows of Venetian blinds, a nod to film noir.

The Saddle bag – a Galliano original from 2001, one of the more loaded objects in the Dior archive – was reworked with a car paint surface and motor key charms, the vintage Cadillacs parked outside the venue serving as the obvious reference point. A nautilus-shaped minaudière and a crescent-based silhouette completed the line-up.

Back on the clothes: a slim men’s blazer traced the cut of the Bar jacket Christian Dior made for Marlene Dietrich in Stage Fright, the garment that prompted her famous ultimatum to Hitchcock. Shirts made in collaboration with artist Ed Ruscha, which closed the menswear portion of the show, were more specific. Ruscha chose the fabrics, determined the phrases, and handled the execution. A white tuxedo shirt carried “We the People” in embroidered thread; a tan linen shirt read “Says I, To Myself Says I,” borrowing from his recent Gagosian exhibition of the same name; a plaid shirt was scattered with numbers, Anderson citing Ruscha’s interest in poker. The ripped denim, meanwhile, had its fraying threads replaced entirely with fine silver chains — the distressing preserved, the fabric reconstituted.

Headpieces designed by the legendary Philip Treacy – feathered, word-spelled, reworked from an original created for Isabella Blow – appeared on the men first, moving between tribute and wit without settling on either.

But what is the Hollywood dream without a little drama? Glittering capes and metallic treatments were interspersed between the more rock ‘n’ roll elements, a nod to Golden Era theatrics that inspired generations of young hopefuls to come to the city.

Denim also continued to work its way into Anderson’s design view for Dior: this time ripped, then re-stitched with fine silver chains tracing the tears.

Despite Dior’s long history with the glittering town, Anderson’s relationship with Hollywood also predates his Dior appointment.

As creative director of Loewe, he served as costume designer on two Luca Guadagnino films, Challengers and Queer, a collaboration that placed fashion directly inside the frame and set off its own run of trends.

The connection runs deeper still: as a teenager, Anderson left Ireland for the United States with the intention of becoming an actor, before fashion intervened. At LACMA, he hinted that the Dior-cinema relationship was only getting started – franchises, film projects and a broader picture taking shape over the next twelve months.

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