Dior beat Chanel in the big battle over the wedding of the decade

For the Paris house of Christian Dior it is a genuine victory: both Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wore couture by creative director Jonathan Anderson to their New York wedding. In an intensifying rivalry with Chanel over the most coveted celebrity deals, that gives Dior the edge.

No pictures have emerged from the closely guarded celebration at Madison Square Garden, but Swift’s dress — unquestionably the biggest bridal commission of the decade — is a major win for the 41-year-old Anderson, a year into his tenure at the French house and keen to prove he belongs in the role.

Chanel creative director Matthieu Blazy, also new to the job, has already revived his brand and made his bridal couture debut with a densely beaded dress for Dua Lipa at her wedding in Sicily in June. But the media attention around Swift’s wedding is on a different scale — and for Dior, one of LVMH’s flagships, it is a chance to stoke demand in a sluggish luxury market. Swift’s 273 million Instagram followers and her devoted global audience give the house a visibility that no marketing campaign could buy.

“This commission guarantees that Dior, and by extension Jonathan Anderson, will remain part of pop culture history for years to come,” says Thomaï Serdari, a luxury brand strategist and professor of marketing at Stern School of Business.

Dior said the couple’s wedding looks were made in the house’s ateliers at 30 Avenue Montaigne, with Anderson working closely with the bride and groom. At Dior’s couture show on Monday the front row was buzzing about Swift’s dress. “When she chose Jonathan, I thought: someone is advising her well,” said the 91-year-old American textile artist Sheila Hicks, who created a bag for Dior with Anderson last year. “It shows she is plugged in, that she works with the right people.” The dress, she said, “should not overwhelm, but it definitely has to have a very strong character.”

Speculation in the weeks before the ceremony was feverish: Stella McCartney, one of the singer’s favourite designers, and Sarah Burton of Givenchy were among the front-runners. Swift wears plenty of luxury labels but rarely appears at fashion events and often backs small or little-known brands: her engagement ring, for instance, was made by the independent jeweller Artifex Fine Jewelry. Known for her all-American style, she chose Ralph Lauren for the engagement shoot — and turned up to the main event in French couture after all.

Anderson, a Northern Irishman who spent eleven years at the head of Loewe, has had a busy wedding season: in the past month alone Dior has presented two more of his couture wedding dresses, for the Chinese model Ming Xi and the Brazilian influencer Elisa Zarzur.

Dressing the rich and famous does not guarantee commercial success, however, particularly with demand weakening. Lauren Sánchez married Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a custom Dolce & Gabbana dress at a three-day celebration in Venice — the Italian label is now looking for ways to raise money and is in talks with banks about restructuring its debt. Valentino, which made the column dress for Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham’s wedding in 2022, posted a loss last year and is also negotiating with creditors.