By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
In a season when men’s fashion has leaned hard into spectacle, insiders believe Jonathan Anderson is playing a subtler, longer game. As he prepares his second men’s runway show for Dior on Jan. 21, the designer has added LaKeith Stanfield to the house’s growing roster of male ambassadors, a choice many said feels less like a marketing maneuver and more like a carefully calibrated alignment of temperament, intellect, and style.
Stanfield is already familiar territory at Dior. He attended Anderson’s debut men’s show in June and has repeatedly turned to the house for red carpet appearances, including the New York premiere of “Die My Love” in November. In December, at the British Fashion Awards, he debuted a floral embroidered blue denim “revolution” coat with a matching waistcoat and light blue boot-cut jeans, a look that later surfaced again when Amy Madigan wore the same ensemble to the Critics Choice Awards. The repetition did not dull the impact. If anything, it sharpened it, underscoring how clothing can behave like a refrain rather than a one-time flourish.
“LaKeith has an energy that feels both spontaneous and composed,” Anderson said in a statement shared with Women’s Wear Daily, the outlet that originally reported the deal. “He’s an actor’s actor, with a remarkable range, bringing something unexpected and magical to every role. I can’t wait to work together.”
Stanfield becomes the second new male ambassador named this month, following French actor Paul Kircher, as Anderson continues to shape the public face of Dior’s men’s universe after a flurry of appointments on the women’s side. Industry folks said the casting feels deliberate. Stanfield’s career has been defined by slipperiness and refusal, an ability to move between genres, tones, and expectations without settling into a single narrative.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of FBI informant William O’Neal in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Stanfield has also appeared in the FX series “Atlanta,” Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” and the Netflix romantic comedy “Someone Great.” His upcoming projects include “Lear Rex,” a reworking of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” starring Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain. Parallel to his acting career, Stanfield has returned to music, releasing “Fast Life” featuring Kid Cudi last fall, his first major single since signing with Def Jam.
That multiplicity may be precisely the point. Dior, under Anderson, appears less interested in fixed archetypes than in figures who carry contradiction comfortably. Stanfield, who once recorded music under the name Htiekal and has long resisted easy categorization, fits neatly into that philosophy.
“To collaborate with Jonathan Anderson’s astute vision, within a house whose history reads like art itself, where detail becomes design and design becomes story, is humbling and inspiring,” Stanfield said.
