Rumor has it that the house of Christian Dior only exists because of a psychic. Her name was Madame Delahaye—a mystic so beloved by the designer that he leaned on her for both personal and professional advice (she counseled him against accepting a job at a competing house, thus building his own fashion empire). Delahaye also revealed to him the most auspicious time to begin his very first show: February 12, 1947, at exactly 10:30 a.m., insisting the planets were perfectly aligned.
Monsieur Dior, born January 21, 1905, was an Aquarius sun, Cancer moon, and Scorpio rising—a mix that gave him both the vision to see beyond his time and the emotional depth to create work that truly moved people. At that very show on February 12, 1947, he did just that by completely upending postwar fashion with his debut collection, dubbed the “New Look” by Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow. With its cinched waists, padded hips, and dramatic, voluminous skirts, the silhouette rejected wartime austerity and rationing in favor of opulence and fantasy. Some skirts required nearly 20 yards of fabric, even as Europe was still recovering from material shortages. Ironically, French women saw it as liberation: Finally, something beautiful again. Finally, a new era.
The numeral 8—along with lily of the valley and a five-pointed star—was one of Monsieur Dior’s lucky symbols. He wove it into his surroundings everywhere: in his En Huit (“Figure Eight”) collection, the address of Dior’s Paris headquarters in the 8th arrondissement, and the layout of his original ateliers, which were shaped like the digit. More serendipitously, the number also found its way to the modern age: Anderson’s appointment date—June 2, 2025—adds up to 8 in numerology, just like Dior’s debut show in 1947.
Born September 17, 1984, Anderson is a Virgo, just like many other designers before him, including Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, and Stella McCartney. It’s a zodiac sign that reflects traits like precision and a near-obsessive devotion to craft. His moon is in Gemini, which is said to fuel an energy that allows him to multitask and juggle teams and ideas with ease. As he leads Dior fully (he is the first designer since Monsieur Dior to design women’s, men’s, couture, and accessories all at once), along with his still-growing label JW Anderson, and takes on more ventures as a costume designer for film—that makes total sense. It’s fated for Anderson to thrive. The strength of Virgo and Gemini in Anderson’s chart played out across his decade at Loewe, where he transformed the small Spanish leather label into a powerhouse, and heralds more innovative work to come at Dior.