The China Mail - Anderson teases Dior debut with Mbappe, Basquiat and Marie Antoinette

In a virtual version of Hansel and Gretel, the 40-year-old Northern Irishman has been expertly teasing fashion fans with little peeks of what is in store for them when he finally lifts the curtain Friday.

And even the invitation to the show in the 17th-century splendour of Les Invalides has gone viral.

His eclectic clues started with him posting Andy Warhol's photographs of the American socialite Lee Radziwill -- the sister of Jackie Kennedy -- and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat to his 1.3 million followers.

Both New Yorkers are "for me the epitome of style", he said.

While the trail of posts started in the Big Apple it seemed to be ending at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, particularly in the cutesy hamlet Marie Antoinette had built in the grounds so she could play at being a peasant.

There were also snaps of a gilt clock in the Queen's Bedchamber, a Dior ring set in one of the hamlet's apple trees and a brilliantly witty measuring tape in the shape of a snail perched on a leaf.

- Tied in knots -

Anderson also posted two rather endearing videos of French football star Killian Mbappe putting on a tie and trying -- and failing -- to knot a dickie bow.

"It is not that bad, no?" the Real Madrid star and Dior ambassador asked, before admitting the fail with a laugh, "It is (that bad)?"

Anderson -- a lover of literature -- also seems to have returned to his homeland for inspiration, with three new versions of the brand's Book Tote bags.

The first has "Dracula" in blood-red letters in a nod to Dublin writer Bram Stoker.

The enigmatic invitation to the show -- a porcelain plate adorned with three eggs -- has already gone viral on social media.

Anderson's arrival at Dior had been flagged for months after he turned around the rather fusty Spanish label Loewe, which is also owned by the French luxury giant LVMH.

Just weeks after he was named to head Dior Homme, he was also appointed creative director of the Dior's women's collections and its haute couture -- the first person to lead all three since founder Christian Dior himself.

- Changing of the guard -

With the luxury sector's once bumper profits plummeting, Anderson's appointment is an attempt to renew the fashion house after nine years under the Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri.

It also comes amid a major changing of the guard, with Belgian Matthieu Blazy, 41, taking over French rivals Chanel and iconic fashion editor Anna Wintour saying Thursday that she was stepping away from American Vogue to move upstairs in its parent group Conde Nast.

Anderson, the son of former Irish rugby captain Willie Anderson, said that change was maybe no bad thing.

"The fashion industry is like a bonsai that might have gotten too big. We need to purify, to go back to what we like about it, which is making clothes," he told the French daily Le Figaro.

Trained at the London School of Fashion, his first big break was landing a job in Prada's marketing department before launching his own brand, JW Anderson, in 2008.

"I think he is one of the most gifted talents of his generation," said Alice Feillard, men's buyer at Galeries Lafayette, Europe's biggest department store group.

"We saw what he achieved at Loewe -- a really remarkable and brilliant body of work."

"He is one of the most talented and undoubtedly prolific designers of recent years," Adrien Communier, fashion editor for GQ France, told AFP.

"There is something childlike yet very intellectual" about his collections, he said, "very cheeky, very bold... and really intriguing".

Feillard said bringing together Dior's three lines "makes sense. Dior Homme and Dior Femme are almost two different brands. I think now the real challenge for the brand is to establish a somewhat more coherent identity", she said.

A.Kwok--ThChM