'Shogun' Actor Anna Sawai in Dior Covers Vogue Japan July 2025 by Nick Yang AOC Fashion

New Zealand-born Japanese actor Anna Sawai [IG] became a Dior ambassador in early February, wearing a custom look designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri to the 2025 Golden Globes. Sawai is best known for her role as Toda Mariko in the "Shōgun" series, and she won multiple top honors at the 2024 Primtime Emmy Awards and 2025 Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards.

Today Anna Sawai covers the July 2025 issue of Vogue Japan [IG], wearing key pieces from Dior’s Pre-Fall 2025 collection, shown at Kyoto’s Toji Temple in April. The kimono shape used extensively in the Dior collection reflects the Japanese philosophy of understated elegance and harmony with the surrounding environment.

Dior Pre-Fall 2025 Kyoto Show

Combining ‘stillness’ and ‘motion’ is a key words combination that expresses the dramatic fashion story.

This approach to fashion design also is also deeply entrenched in the Arab world. In this Vogue Japan fashion story shot in Kaitsns by Nick Yang [IG], the actor is styled by Rena Semba. / Hair by Asashi; makeup by Yuka Washizu

Christian Dior in Japan

Monsieur Dior solidified his status as an icon of French fashion being the first couturier to present his collection in Japan in 1953. This recognition reached its peak in 1959 when he was chosen to design three dresses for the civil wedding ceremony of Princess Michiko, future wife of Crown Prince Akihito, and future Empress of Japan. “From the late ’40s onward, he was truly determined to make Dior into a global brand,” said creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Maria Grazia Chiuri is known for her collaborations with local artisanal communities. In the Kyoto show, she partnered with the historic Tatsumura Textile atelier to produce what Vogue Runway called “craftsmanship nothing short of couture”.

For this occasion, the atelier revisited patterns originally commissioned by Monsieur Dior in the 1950s.

Master dyer Tabata Kihachi and the Fukada family’s specialists in traditional dyeing techniques lent their hands to key Dior looks shown to front-row guests that included Lily James, Deva Cassel, Sonam Kapoor, and Pretty Yende.

With her commitment to understanding better the design architecture of the kimono — including its unisex modernity — Chiuri created another of her timeless investment-worthy collections. Vogue used a word not common among fashion shows to describe the Kyoto experience, saying that Dior delivered an evening of ‘Grace’. Nice. ~ Anne