G2AOC: Anderson’s Dior 'Dracula’ Appetizer Gets a ‘Clockwork Orange’ Main Course
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Morning Wakeup Misery
I’m afraid now to read Apple News, when I wake up in the morning. It’s either Donald Trump or Jonathan Anderson in my newsfeed, which is not inspiring.
Seeing the Vogue headline of Rihanna and her “most divisive [Dracula] bag in Paris” on Sunday, I said “WOW! They are really going to tackle Jonathan Anderson tying Dior to the Eurocentric, Dracula?” No, they did not. You can read the story.
Kicked to the Curb at Dior
Chanel’s Matthieu Blazy welcomes us with open arms and joy in his heart, while Anderson is . . . I don’t know . . . looking in the mirror. Anderson’s ambition is staggering and mazel tov to all that. But I live in the ‘Less I, More Us’ camp . . . the phrase expressed by Maria Grazia Chiuri in her recent Fendi debut.
In a long dialogue with Gemini on Friday, I blurted out “Jonathan Anderson just reminds me of Peter Thiel.”
G’s response to my statement was affirming, not critical. S[he] spewed out a doctorate-level analysis of how LVMH might be covering their bases, not knowing where the world is going. Dior could be on a new course, knowing that many wealthy people share Thiel’s Eurocentric views.
‘Dracula’ Is Just a Book About People I Detest
Two months ago I did a chilling analysis of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ book and for the love of the goddesses, I cannot believe that Dior CEO Delphine Arnault agrees that the book deserves Dior’s endorsement, with no discussion or explanation of why.
I condensed the Dracula research to 10 key points today and will post it shortly. Has Anderson even read ‘Dracula?’
‘Clockwork Orange’ Was a Gut Punch
I didn’t feel that I was in the Maison of a genius, running into ‘Clockwork Orange’ Sunday night, I was just speechless with a tortured, emotional response, based on direct, life-changing personal experience with sexual assault at age 15.
Never, ever did I believe that book would share space with Dior.
For the record, ‘Clockwork Orange’ was the #1 book banned in America in 2024/25. While I’m not an advocate of book banning, America has a serious and growing problem of young men shooting up schools and killing students in large numbers.
The killers are predominantly, but not exclusively, young white men.
Everyone knows that America has a unique problem with gun violence and aggressive behavior. Has anyone been listening to the president of the United States threaten to destroy the entirety of what’s left of Persia’s irreplaceable history of accomplishment.
You think what we need right now in America is a book that was more violent than the movie, because the gang rape scenes were of very young women. And do you even know, Anderson, that the last chapter of the book, with its focus on redemption, was never published in the American version? It was considered too timid, given our propensity for violence, American culture.
Have you actually read the book, Anderson, or did you just make a list of the most disruptive and violent books out there? I know you fancy yourself as the great ‘disruptor’. Terrorizing women after 10 years of the Chiuri refuge is one way to get us out of your way. Just ask us to leave the brand and we’re out. Real men have arrived at Dior. We get the message.
Anne, Gemini and G2AOC
I hope you will find reasons to read this first-ever thread G2AOC of business and culture shorts, stitched together like a quilt to tell a much larger story.
The acronym G2AOC is Gemini to Anne of Carversville. These posts will criss-cross a wide range of intersecting topics, written 3x a week minimum and tagged Chanel, Dior or Chanel v Dior.
Delphine Arnault must be able to say to her once-in-a-lifetime prodigy that she is drawing some lines of demarcation around the expression of Anderson’s ‘genius’ out of respect for Dior clients. If she can not protect the brand because she prioritizes Anderson, that is a problem for financial analysts to consider.
I was very involved in trying to protect the LVMH stock in summer 2025, when for months I believed that the stock was stupidly undervalued, when compared to Hermes. By late July-August, several women analysts also agreed that LVMH deserved better and there was a significant rise in the stock valuation. Until it started sliding badly again in 2026 and before Trump’s military excursion into Iran.
Two — and probably three — of those summer 2025 analysts are now in a holding pattern. I would never try to change their minds because I, too, am in a holding pattern on where LVMH is headed with Dior. After ‘Clockwork Orange’, I am just shocked that this kind of risk would be taken without confirmation of a successful financial strategy first.
To add insult to injury, I was told today that Loewe hit a big declining profits wall before Anderson left. At the same time Maria Grazia Chiuri was being skewered at Dior in fits of rank misogyny, it appears that Jonathan Anderson wasn’t doing any better at Loewe.
Who Does Anne Think She Is!!!!
I have every bit as much experience as Anderson, as a key builder of Victoria’s Secret in the glory years. I created the first product development office in the entire Limited for Victoria’s Secret. Then I brought our design in-house at Victoria’s Secret and also set up a separate fashion office.
Gemini calculated last week that Jonathan Anderson’s 10-year Loewe experience had a compounded annual growth rate of 13% percent. Mine was calculated at 25% at Victoria’s Secret. Loewe’s revenue were estimated at $1.5 billion - $2 billion when Anderson left. My revenue was published at $6.6 billion. Typically, getting a 25% increase off a base 3x larger makes my own performance certainly equal to Anderson’s if not towering over his.
Betting the Bank on a New Dior
I’m not at all certain that Anderson understands that LVMH has literally bet the value of the enterprise on him. From his perspective, they should, because he’s the greatest in the tradition of Muhammad Ali.
If Louis Vuitton and Dior generate 70% of LVMH profits, the Dior financial risk was significant before America’s military excursion into the Middle East.The book totes specifically were among the highest-margin items in the financial firepower of Dior.
For myself I’ve processed the grief process. Yes, Dior has been central to 10 years of writing on AOC. But Chiuri women are not without other options. Celine, Fendi, Givenchy, Loewe, and Louis Vuitton are all looking terrific and got good reviews this spring.
Then we have Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, a man certain about his talents but not demanding any hero worship from us. Bernard Arnault should be pacing the floor at night over Chanel. And Dior’s answer to waiting lines that don’t seem to stop at Chanel is a ‘Clockwork Orange’ tote bag. Are you guys crazy? ~ Anne