Dior designer Jonathan Anderson says NI helped fashion his world view

Jonathan Anderson unveiled his first women's ready-to-wear Dior collection at Paris Fashion Week earlier this week

Northern Ireland-born fashion designer Jonathan Anderson has said growing up against a backdrop of the Troubles has helped shape his world view.

The 41 year old was announced earlier this year as the first designer since Christian Dior to lead both the women's and men's lines at the world-renowned French fashion house Dior.

Earlier this week, Anderson unveiled his first women's ready-to-wear Dior collection at Paris Fashion Week.

The designer, who has dressed stars including Ariana Grande and Rihanna, told BBC Radio 4: "I would not be where I am today without Northern Ireland."

He added: "I think back to where Northern Ireland was before the Good Friday Agreement and realise when you start to see each other's differences and talk, you can get resolution."

The Good Friday Agreement brought an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland.

Colour has to 'stand out'

"Anyone who's been to Northern Ireland, it's very grey and rainy," he said.

"Every time I ring my mother, it's always raining - and she always talks about the weather.

"What I quite like is it is a grey landscape with green, where colour ultimately has to stand out in it. It's the horizon line, it's nearly low somehow, which means it's all about mid tones nearly.

"So when I was growing up, I liked colour, I liked pattern, I liked fashion - because it contrasted to everything I was around."

Sabrina Carpenter, dressed by Anderson, pictured at the Dior Homme Menswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week

Anderson, who has won a number of high-profile awards, including Designer of the Year twice, was speaking to John Wilson on BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life.

His move to Dior was part of a major reshuffling of jobs at global fashion brands following some resignations and forced departures.

Before joining Dior, the he spent 11 years as creative director of the Spanish luxury fashion house Loewe.

Jonathan Anderson received a standing ovation after his Paris Fashion Week show

Anderson said that during the 1990s Northern Ireland was "a country in paralysis".

He grew up in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, and is the son of former Ireland rugby captain, Willie Anderson.

"It was going nowhere at one point," he said, adding that it is something "we can forget".

While there had been various talks leading up to it for years the Good Friday Agreement was not signed until 1998.

The Troubles, Anderson said, were a "part of your life".

"You become immune to it. You were born into it. I saw many things in life that I wish I never saw."

• Who is Jonathan Anderson?

In August 1998 his mother Heather was returning shoes in the County Tyrone town of Omagh when it was devastated by a bomb. She drove away from the town as the bomb went off.

She survived the biggest single atrocity in the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Twenty-nine people were killed, including nine children, a woman pregnant with twins and three generations of one family.

He described the atrocity as a "turning point".

"I remember the kind of emotion of that moment.

"I think it will always affect me."

Anderson added that his parents "did not bring us up on one side of the fence or the other", referring to Northern Ireland's political and religious divide.

"We were a Protestant family but we were never brought up in that way. They did not believe in schools that were not mixed and when you think about this it's so crazy," he said.

"I look at countries that are divided and we are divided everywhere today, I always think back to where Northern Ireland was before the Good Friday Agreement and realised when you start to see each other's differences and talk, then you can get resolution.

"You have to listen to both sides," he added.

While growing up in Northern Ireland, Anderson said he had "never met a gay person".

But he "kind of" knew he was gay, he added.

"Not to the point that I did anything about it," he said.

He started telling people he was gay in Washington DC while trying to make it as an actor.

"I understood who I was," he told the programme.

Anderson's father - pictured in 1999 - is former Ireland rugby captain Willie Anderson

"When I did come out, my father was like, 'Oh, I know loads of gay people'."

His father was a "huge inspiration" and "so liberal" on the issue.

"My father's very emotional and I think he is very open, so I didn't have a coming out that was tough," he said.

As for Christmas, Anderson still goes home to Northern Ireland every year to spend it with his family - his parents Willie and Heather Anderson - and his brother and sister.