Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is being accused of lying to Congress after he denied that a $2.5 billion revamp of the central bank’s Washington headquarters will load the facility with lavish amenities — and some are demanding that he be punished, The Post has learned.
Powell called The Post’s exclusive report in April about the bloated renovation project — which led Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to liken it to the “Palace of Versailles” during a grilling by the Senate Banking Committee last week — “misleading and inaccurate”.
“There’s no VIP dining room, there’s no new marble. There are no special elevators,” Powell insisted under questioning from the powerful panel on Wednesday. “There are no new water features, there’s no beehives, and there’s no roof terrace gardens.”
Powell was accused by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) of making “a number of factually inaccurate statements” during his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design
But Powell — who is meanwhile facing heat from President Trump over a failure to slash interest rates — directly contradicted the project’s own planning documents, which were signed off by government pen pushers in 2021 — and which haven’t been revised since.
The costly vanity project was signed off by US government pen pushers in 2021 and costs are already overrunning. NCPC
“The private dining rooms on Level 4 (of the Fed’s Eccles building) will be restored,” reads one excerpt from the filing with the National Capital Planning Commission. “The Governors’ private elevator will be extended to discharge at the dining suite level.”
The documents also expressly mention “vegetated roof terraces” that will welcome “urban wildlife and pollinators” as well as new marble and water features.
Andrew T. Levin — a professor of economics at Dartmouth College who served as an economist and advisor to the Fed’s board from 1992 to 2012 — urged Congress to step in and punish Powell for lying to lawmakers.
“A top Fed official cannot be permitted to make false statements under oath at a congressional hearing. Such statements must be promptly corrected, and in egregious cases, subject to censure by the Senate,” Levin said.
Andrew T. Levin, a former Fed official, has argued for stronger Congressional oversight of the central bank. Dartmouth
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Post that Powell “was clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.”
“He made a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed’s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace,” Lummis said in a statement to The Post. “This is typical of the mismanagement and ‘don’t bother me’ attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.”
A Fed spokesman declined to comment.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a majority member of the Senate Banking Committee, told The Post that Powell “was clearly not prepared for his testimony, and should be embarrassed.” Getty Images
The 72-year-old Powell also appeared to dismiss concerns that the revamp was being subsidized by American taxpayers in Wednesday’s hearing, saying simply that “the cost overruns are what they are.”
The eye-watering price tag for the overhaul has already ballooned by 30% from an original estimate of $1.9 billion.
Sen. Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, branded the renovations as “luxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles.”
Sen. Tim Scott grilled Powell about the eye-wateringly expensive renovations after the Post’s April expose on the Fed’s DC HQ. AP
After The Post broke the story about the Fed’s reckless spending on the HQ upgrade, former Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk called the news “an eyebrow raiser.”
The Tesla titan, who has since left government, said DOGE should “definitely” investigate how so much money came to be blown on the glorified vanity project.
By comparison, JPMorgan’s new headquarters in Midtown Manhattan — a luxe, 60-story tower at 270 Park Ave. designed by star architect Norman Foster — is set to cost an estimated $3 billion.
Planning documents posted online appear to directly contradict Chair Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. NCPC
The revelations are controversial at a time when the Fed is struggling with mounting losses, which stand at a total of $233 billion from the past three years.
Its interest costs surged and outstripped its earnings on bonds it owns when Powell hiked rates in trying to tame rampant inflation during the Biden administration.
It sank into the red for the first time in its history, posting losses of $114.6 billion in 2023. Officials there insist that losing money in no way impacts their ability to operate and conduct monetary policy.
When the Fed makes a profit, that money is then passed on to the US Treasury to become part of the federal government’s budget.
The losses are bundled together in what is known as the Fed’s “deferred asset” that it must pay down before money can be spent on other things, such as defense, education, and Medicare.
Zohran Mamdani sure is good at putting a pleasant face on hate.
His platform’s pointed reference to boosting property taxes on white New Yorkers is “just naming things as they are,” he claimed Sunday, simply “an assessment of what neighborhoods are being under-taxed versus over-taxed.”
So why make a point of linking it to race, unless you’re talking code?
Similarly, he wouldn’t back down on his defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which along with “from the river to the sea” is blatantly about opposing Jews as Jews and eliminating Israel.
But “that’s not language that I use,” he blurred: His language is about “a belief in universal human rights” — rights that, strangely enough, Israel actually respects but not the Palestinian territories.
Even his plans to hike taxes on businesses and the rich are somehow “a vision for every single New Yorker, including business leaders across the city.”
Sure, everyone has a place in his vision — but for many, it’s as his villains who’ll have to pay.
His supporters hear the dog whistles; the rest of us are supposed to be snowed by his aw-shucks claims about how he’s just being “frank” and perhaps a trifle impolite in “naming things as they are.”
Stock market investing is such a popular method to build wealth for one simple reason: it works. However, there are a number of pitfalls that can severely reduce returns or even result in a loss. Here are five that are best avoided by anyone planning to start buying shares.
Chasing hype stocks
The first rookie mistake to avoid is chasing hyped-up shares. Personally, any talk of a stock “going to the moon” is a red flag for me! One that springs to mind is Trump Media & Technology Group. This is the firm behind President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
The stock’s up 38.5% over two years, but down 72% since March 2024. This volatility’s unsurprising, given that the company has minimal revenue and is posting losses. The firm’s going to start stockpiling Bitcoin, which might work out well. But if I was starting to buy shares in July, I’d avoid meme stocks like Trump Media.
Ignoring fees
Next is ignoring fees, which can really eat into returns over time. One way to avoid this is to minimise portfolio churn (lots of buying and selling). Investing in stocks for the long term reduces the need to trade in and out of positions.
Going all-in
Another rookie mistake is betting the farm on a single stock. While there’s a chance this might pay off, it’s also very risky, and can result in permanent losses.
The smart thing to do is to build a diversified portfolio of stocks from different sectors. Mine is made up of UK dividend shares and US growth stocks, as well as a handful of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and investment trusts.
Ignoring valuation
A very common rookie mistake is to ignore valuation. Buying great companies is just one side of the equation — the other’s not massively overpaying for them.
For example, it’s clear to me that Palantir‘s a world-class software company. It’s growing very rapidly as it helps organisations imbed artificial intelligence (AI) into their operations. It’s an ambitious firm led by smart founders, with a seemingly long runway of growth ahead.
However, the stock’s trading at 104 times sales. I think this sky-high valuation’s very risky, especially if Palantir’s growth decelerates.
Not searching for a moat
Finally, many newbie investors fail to assess whether a company has an economic moat. In other words, a durable competitive advantage that keeps competitors at bay.
One firm that certainly has a deep moat is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). It has a massive logistics network that very few can match, while its Prime subscription service keeps hundreds of millions of customers loyal to the app.
It does me. Those familiar brown boxes are a regular sight coming up my driveway!
Beyond e-commerce, Amazon also has a dominant position in cloud computing via its AWS division. In Q1, net sales increased 9% to $155.7bn, with AWS contributing $29.3bn of that (17% year-on-year growth).
The main near-term risk here is an economic downturn in the US, not helped by President Trump’s tariffs. This could see consumers pull back on spending.
However, Amazon’s long-term growth outlook remains strong, with revenue tipped to reach $1trn by 2030! The stock isn’t trading at a crazy valuation, making it worth considering, in my opinion.
Good morning, I’m just back from the Aspen Ideas Festival, where I had an opportunity to speak with many thought-provoking leaders about how they’re navigating this climate. I’ll share some of those insights later this week. For today, I want to highlight a conversation I had with noted economist Nouriel Roubini; Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chair David Rubenstein; and Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of the crypto exchange Kraken. The topic: What wealth will look like tomorrow.
Roubini (known as Dr. Doom for predicting the financial crisis), has more recently become Dr. Boom for his view that a tech-driven renaissance for the U.S. economy will ultimately lead to 8% GDP growth. “I’m a contrarian,” he said, noting that technological drivers of innovation working in America’s favor right may also create job losses that may necessitate a universal basic income.
Rubenstein talked about this country’s mounting debt and the strength of the dollar, while being bullish on the European defense sector and the longevity economy. “In the future, we’re not going to measure people’s wealth by how much money they have.” Rather, he said, wealth will be measured by the length and health of one’s life. “In 10 or 20 years, we will be able to tell you how long you’re likely to live,” he said.
Sethi talked about the democratization of access to capital and trading through crypto and the continued challenge of regulation in building products and getting things done. “If you were to go to China and build a robot, it would take less than six months. Whereas it could take two years in the U.S.,” said Sethi, who has the number of seconds in a day tattooed on his forearm. “I am paying our lawyers more than anyone else.” You can watch our full conversation here.
Agreements with about dozen countries are expected to be in place before the July 9 deadline. But most of them are bare-bones agreements that will requires future negotiation. The U.S. will send countries that have not reached a deal a letter telling them what the U.S.’s terms are. Trump said tariff levels would be 25% or more.
Canada ends digital tax following Trump threat
The 3% sales tax had targeted U.S. tech companies. Trump had terminated talks with Canada on Friday and on Sunday said they would not resume “until such time as they drop certain taxes, yeah,” he said on Fox News. “People don’t realize, Canada is very nasty to deal with.”
Tax cuts and tariffs
The Senate advanced President Donald Trump’s plan for tax breaks and spending cuts over the weekend, with Trump pushing for lawmakers to finish the bill by July 4. In other deadline news, Trump said he would rather send letters to countries regarding their impending tariffs rates than extend the pause past July 9.
Trump’s big beautiful bill could add $2.8 trillion in debt
That’s according to a new estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. The White House claims it will reduce deficits.
Trump renews his attacks on Powell
The president again insulted the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates at 4.25%. Calling Jerome Powell a “stupid person” and a “bad person” on Fox News on Sunday, Trump said, “We should be at 1% or 2%.”
$1 billion in Nvidia insider sales
Over the last 12 months, top executives at the chipmaker have sold off hundreds of millions in pre-planned stock sales, the FT reports. $500 million in sales took place this month alone. CEO Jensen Huang sold stock last week for the first time since September.
Happy birthday to you, Elon
A Tesla Model Y drove itself from a factory in Austin to its new owner, who was waiting 30 minutes away. This “fully autonomous delivery,” as Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared, was a first for the car company—and the milestone was an early birthday present for Musk, who turned 54 on Saturday.
Mamdani’s stance on billionaires
In an interview with NBC, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani shared that he is anti-billionaire, as “it is so much money in a moment of such inequality.” Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, went on to say: “I look forward to work with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of them.”
The markets
S&P 500 futures rose 0.37% this morning, premarket. The S&P 500 closed up 0.52% on Friday, hitting a new record high (6,173). U.K. and Europe markets were flat in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.84%. The major China indexes were up this morning, as was South Korea, but Hong Kong and India were down.
From the analysts
UBS on U.S. fiscal stability: “The US Senate is trying to pass a budget. Markets expect this will keep the US fiscal position on an unsustainable path (ideas of deficit reduction generally rest on some very heroic assumptions about economic growth and tax revenue). As US debt levels grow, it is worth remembering that private sector wealth is at a record high. The US government may, in time, seek to mobilize that wealth to finance the growing deficit,” per Paul Donovan.
Goldman Sachs on global markets: “Underlying US inflation has been lower than expected; trade uncertainty measures have fallen further; fragility at the long end of global bond markets has been contained so far; and the impact of tariffs on growth and inflation has not yet validated the worst fears,” per Kamakshya Trivedi and Dominic Wilson.
Pantheon Macroeconomics on consumer spending: “The 0.3% fall in consumers’ real spending in May and big downward revisions to earlier months mean spending likely rose at an annualized pace of only about 1½% in the first half this year, well below last year’s 3% average. Moreover, the lack of momentum recently, looming tariff-driven price hikes, and an imminent deterioration in the labor market all suggest spending will slow further in Q3,” per Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen.
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Nina Ajemian and Jim Edwards.
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Donald Trump has urged Israel and Hamas to agree a ceasefire – as the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza reached 56,500.
“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!,” he wrote on social media on Sunday.
The US president had raised expectations of a possible agreement this week, but some Palestinians were doubtful of the latest efforts to end the 20-month war that has laid waste to most of Gaza.
“Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: release the hostages and we will stop the war,” said one Palestinian, Abdel Hadi al Hour. “They did not stop the war.”
An eight-week ceasefire was reached in the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.
Image: Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian child killed in an Israeli strike. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in Gaza continued on Sunday.
At least 15 people were killed when an IDF airstrike hit a house sheltering displaced people in the Jabaliya al-Nazla area, according to an official in Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
He said women and children made up more than half the dead.
Israel’s military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza, home to hundreds of thousands who had returned during the ceasefire earlier this year.
Image: Palestinians were forced to flee their homes with their belongings after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders. Pic: Reuters
During a visit to Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and ceasefire have opened many opportunities.
“First of all, to rescue the hostages,” he said. “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks.”
The war in Gaza, which has continued for more than a year and a half, began after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
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Dozens dead in Gaza after Israeli strikes
Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether or not the war should end as part of any ceasefire.
Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Mr Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages.
Omer Dostri, a spokesperson for Mr Netanyahu, said that “Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war”, without addressing Mr Merdawi’s claim.
The death toll in Gaza has reached 56,500, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The Hamas-run authority does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but has previously said more than half of those killed in the conflict were women and children.
A woman smokes a cigarette at Kerlouan in Brittany in France on May 30. The country is banning smoking in many public places.
Vincent Feuray/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
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Vincent Feuray/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
PARIS — A restrictive outdoor smoking ban has come into force in France, a country where café culture, which often includes a glass of wine and a cigarette, is a way of life.
As of Sunday, smokers are no longer allowed to light up in public parks, at swimming pools, or at beaches, or “anywhere children may be present,” said French health and family minister Catherine Vautrin, who pushed for the ban.Violators can face fines ranging from the equivalent of around $150 to several hundred dollars.
“Tobacco must disappear from places where there are children,” said Vautrin. “A park, a beach, a school — these are places to play, learn, and breathe. Not for smoking.”
Smoking is also prohibited within about 30 feet of schools, libraries, bus stops, and any other place where the government says it could hurt minors. The health ministry said it would soon reveal signs to designate such areas. Vautrin called it another step “towards a tobacco-free generation,” which she said France is targeting for 2032.
A poll out in May showed that 68% of French are for tighter restrictions on smoking in public, and even bans at outdoor cafés and restaurants, which are exempt under the current ban.
Supporters included 29-year-olds Maya Martin and Joe Camara, who were sitting in the grass in a Paris park, talking and smoking the day before the ban went into effect.
“I think this is a good thing because it’s not good to smoke around children,” said Martin. “That’s why we’re sitting away from all the kids, because otherwise we won’t be a good example for them.”
Both said they started smoking at university because of stress and because it was what everybody did. “Yeah, I started in the context of drinks and coffees at cafés,” said Camara.
Both said they are planning to quit, though Martin said it might be hard. “A glass of wine and a cigarette at a café, that’s kind of part of French culture,” she laughed. “It’s a mood and yeah, maybe that’s why I started to smoke.”
The French government banned smoking inside restaurants and bars in 2008 and has raised the price of cigarettes over the years in an effort to reduce smoking. Today a pack costs around $15. But this is the most restrictive outdoor ban ever to be enacted.
Smoking rates have come down in recent decades. About 23% of French adults smoke every day, according to government data from 2023. Though that is twice as high as the smoking rate among American adults, which was 11.6% in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Smoking and smoking-related diseases kill 75,000 people in France every year, and cost French society the equivalent of more that $180 billion annually, says the OFDT (l’Observatoire francais des drogues et des tendances addictives) a French addiction observation group.
As the ban came into effect on a broiling hot Sunday, adults and children splashed away in a lake in the Burgundy village of Pont-et-Massène. Jeremy Brigon watched from the beach. The 69-year-old no longer smokes, but he thinks this law is excessive.
“It’s too much,” says Brigon. “People shouldn’t smoke near schools, but there’s enough room on a beach for people to be able to smoke.”
Leila Guitry and Frank Chauvin were puffing away on their towels despite the ban. They say they knew nothing about it because they’re too busy working and don’t have time to watch the news. The 22- and 25-year-olds say they’ve both smoked since they were 16. And they’re absolutely against the measure. “We’re outside and there’s enough room to be able to smoke,” says Guitry.
But what about influencing young people?
“It’s always been like that,” she says. “Kids see people smoking. My parents smoke and I smoke now. That’s the way it is.”
The appointment of Jonathan Anderson as the sole Artistic Director of Dior represents one of the boldest moves in recent fashion history. For the first time since Christian Dior himself, a single creative mind now oversees the entire creative output of the house, including menswear, womenswear, couture and accessories. The decision to entrust Jonathan Anderson with this monumental task speaks volumes about both his talent and Dior’s vision for the future.
Jonathan Anderson is no stranger to reinvention. His work at Loewe, spanning over a decade, redefined the codes of craft, masculinity, and wearable art. With his label JW Anderson, he continuously blurred gender lines and pushed silhouettes into uncharted, often poetic territories. But Dior is a different scale altogether. It is a house rich in codes, heritage and legacy. One that carries not only the weight of Parisian haute couture but also a global identity linked to luxury at its finest.
Jonathan Anderson’s appointment signals not just a changing of the guard but a philosophical shift. No longer will the men’s and women’s wear universes evolve in parallel. They will now orbit a singular creative vision. This consolidation is rare in today’s luxury industry, where specialisation often prevails. By making Anderson its sole artistic compass, Dior is placing a high-stakes bet on creative unity and potentially a revolution.
His first test came at Paris Men’s Fashion Week, where anticipation reached fever pitch. Could he imprint his aesthetic onto the Dior legacy while respecting its deeply rooted codes? Could one designer truly hold the reins of such a vast fashion empire? All eyes were on Paris, and Jonathan Anderson stepped onto the stage with confidence, clarity and quiet force.
Who is Jonathan Anderson?
Born in Magherafelt in Northern Ireland in 1984, Jonathan Anderson’s path to the heights of luxury fashion was anything but conventional. Initially aspiring to be an actor, Anderson studied at The Juilliard School in New York before pivoting to a career in fashion. He would go on to graduate from the London College of Fashion with a degree in menswear design, setting the stage for a job that would redefine contemporary fashion.
His first breakthrough came in 2008 with the founding of his label JW Anderson. The brand quickly gained attention for its intellectual yet irreverent take on gender, structure and narrative. One of Anderson’s earliest signatures was his embrace of androgyny. He produced menswear collections that included skirts, cropped silhouettes and sculptural accessories, all without ever compromising on wearability.
JW Anderson’s sharp aesthetic and cerebral references made it a critical darling. The fashion industry took note, and in 2013, LVMH, which is Dior’s parent company, acquired a minority stake in the brand. In the same year, Anderson was appointed Creative Director of the Spanish luxury house Loewe, also owned by LVMH. His challenge there was immense. To revitalise a historic leather brand that had lost cultural relevance. He succeeded beyond all expectations.
At Loewe, Anderson developed a universe rooted in craftsmanship, literary sensibility and quiet radicalism. He elevated artisanal leather into covetable high fashion, made homespun textures into runway statements and infused every collection with a curated sense of intellectualism. Collaborations with artists, books published under Loewe Editions and runway shows that often felt like installations rather than catwalks became hallmarks of his tenure.
Awards soon followed. Anderson won both the Menswear and Womenswear Designer of the Year awards at the British Fashion Awards in 2015, a rare double honour. His work has been exhibited in major museums, and his creative sphere extends beyond fashion to art, theatre and product design. He is simply one of the most multifaceted talents in the industry.
By the time Dior approached him in 2025, Anderson had proven his capacity to lead not one, but two, successful global fashion narratives. His design language is structured yet poetic, modern yet rooted in history. It seemed uniquely positioned to resonate with Dior’s legacy. Taking the reins of Dior Men earlier that year and now of the entire house, Anderson has become not just a creative director but a cultural architect.
His First Men’s Fashion Show at Paris Men’s Fashion Week
Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut for Spring/Summer 2026 was staged on June 27, 2025, at the Hôtel National des Invalides in Paris, marking a historic moment as the inaugural menswear presentation under his creative leadership. The venue, transformed into a minimalist gallery in the style of Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie, featured polished parquet floors, velvet-lined walls, and a few still-life paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. This setting underscored Anderson’s intent to marry art and fashion, an approach rooted in his previous work at Loewe and JW Anderson.
At first glance, it was clear this was a collection conceived with depth and discipline. Anderson described his aim as “decoding the language of the house to recode it”. It was a mission he delivered through a careful blending of heritage and invention. The silhouettes played with tension: Bar jackets in Donegal tweed reimagined for men, paired with ballooning cargo shorts, and structured waistcoats paired with worn-in jeans. The juxtaposition of formal tailoring with relaxed proportions, a blazer paired with sculptural shorts, a French silk waistcoat with chinos and sneakers, offered elegance with utility.
Colour played an essential supporting role. The palette was classic—hounds-tooth, slate grey, and bone white with occasional pops of neon or bright pistachio, lending a youthful irreverence. Textures included dense faille, technical nylons, Donegal tweed, and cable‑knit sweaters that teased a Rococo sensibility. And accessories were playful yet purposeful: fisherman sandals worn with athletic socks, high-top sneakers with deck-shoe detailing, and book-tote bags printed with titles like Dracula and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, in collaboration with Sheila Hicks.
One standout moment was revisiting a Bar jacket and cargo-short look. The contrast of a heritage silhouette with exaggerated shorts made a statement both sartorially and structurally. The runway arc shifted from austere formality to playful irreverence, then to a curated theatricality, with capes, evening scarves, and shawl collars echoing the narrative rise through levels of ceremony. Casting was intimate, with guests seated close to the runway in a classical salon style, emphasising the craftsmanship and subtle details of each look.
Critical response was strong.
Vogue noted that Anderson’s debut struck a balance between elegance and commerce, calling it a meaningful reset for Dior.
Wallpaper praised his reinvention of formal dress codes, lauding the collection’s youthful attitude.
GQ described it as a fusion of craftsmanship and artistic reverence, and affirmed his success in merging heritage with modernity.
Harper’s Bazaar echoed the sentiment that Anderson found drama in restraint, while WWD highlighted the architectural echo of Christian Dior’s tailoring codes.
In sum, Jonathan Anderson’s menswear debut was an accomplished opening salvo. It balanced archival faithfulness with playful defiance, signalled serious intentions across menswear and womenswear, and left both buyers and critics eager for the next chapter.
What to Expect from Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Women’s PAP & Couture
As Dior prepares for its following chapters under Jonathan Anderson’s unified creative vision, anticipation is already mounting. His menswear debut set a tone of refined archaeology, uncovering and reassembling Dior’s archival codes with tactful creativity. For women’s ready-to-wear and haute couture, expect a deeper excavation of Dior’s DNA, executed through Anderson’s signature blend of intellectualism, tactility, and cultural layering.
A Reinterpreted Bar Jacket – The iconic Bar jacket will almost certainly be present, but under Anderson’s hands, it will evolve. Imagine it deconstructed: collars casually unstructured on one side, oversized pockets or asymmetric hems, perhaps trimmed in unexpected textures such as cable knit or technical nylon. It will likely appear in heritage fabrics, such as chiaroscuro tweeds, faille, and Victorian-inspired embroidery. Yet contrasted against casual staples like cropped wide-leg trousers or relaxed silk dresses.
Tactile Textures and Contrasts – Anderson is passionate about “materials that remember the hand,” showcasing painstakingly tactile choices at Loewe and in his menswear debut. For women, we can expect plush faux fur, chunky cable knits, distressed denim, and sculptural felt overcoats. These will be layered over diaphanous silk chiffon or light technical fabrics — a dialogue between opulence and utility.
Proportion Play Meets Femininity – Feminine lines provide his canvas. Expect riders or trenches cinched at the waist, contrasted with voluminous skirt panels or balloon sleeves. Skirt lengths may fluctuate between midi and maxi, while heeled oxfords or chunky sandals subvert traditional ladylike silhouettes.
Art and Literature as Accessory Cues – If menswear offered book totes referencing Dracula and Baudelaire, look for similar literary threads in the women’s lines — perhaps poetic prints, embroidered epigraphs, or sculptural jewellery echoing iconographic objects. Handbags may appear as structural page holders or contain trompe-l’oeil motifs nodding to archival finds.
Couture as Conceptual Narrative – In haute couture, the craftsmanship will be layered with theatricality, but not for spectacle’s sake. Expect gowns built as architectural narratives — sculpted bodices dripping into fluid bias skirts, dramatic capes lined in neon taffeta, and capelets embroidered with flora reminiscent of Chardin paintings. Techniques such as micro-pleating, strategic ruched draping, and delicate hand-sewn appliqué should be featured prominently.
Colour Intelligence – His women’s palette will likely follow suit: muted pastels such as blush, slate, and ivory, punctuated with pistachio or acid yellow in accessories or evening wear. Couture gowns may feature rose or aubergine accents, reflecting Dior’s romantic heritage while remaining modernly poised.
Under Anderson, Dior will no longer feel compartmentalised. Womenswear will echo menswear themes not through exact matches, but tonal resonance: texture, proportion, and narrative will read across gender lines. He is building a coherent maison language, one that balances study and sensuality.
To conclude…
Jonathan Anderson’s arrival at Dior feels like the beginning of something far more profound than just a new chapter in fashion. It is the birth of a new creative rhythm, one where every note, whether played in menswear, womenswear, or couture, resonates with coherence, courage and curiosity. In a world of fashion that too often prizes spectacle over substance, Anderson brings something subtler, yet infinitely more enduring: a deep respect for heritage and a quiet confidence in modernity.
Watching his Spring Summer 2026 menswear debut unfold was not simply witnessing a well-executed collection. It was a privilege to witness a designer at the start of building a complete Dior universe, where ideas evolve fluidly between disciplines, where femininity and masculinity are not opposites but echoes, and where craftsmanship is as important as concept. There was honesty in every seam, poetry in every proportion, and a sense that Anderson was speaking not to trends, but to time itself.
Anderson is not here to replicate. He is here to rethink. And if his menswear show is any indication, his upcoming women’s collections will be intellectually rich, beautifully tactile, and emotionally resonant. Dior, under his direction, may well become less about revisiting icons and more about redefining them for a new generation.
This is no small task. However, Jonathan Anderson does not seem intimidated by the scale of the house he now leads. Instead, he seems energised by it. And so are we. The future of Dior is in the hands of those who understand not just how to dress the body, but how to inspire the spirit.
As Christian Dior once said,
“Respect tradition, but dare to be bold. That is how one becomes timeless.”
It feels, at long last, like time is on Dior’s side again.
José Amorim This article was created exclusively for LuxuryActivist.com. All content is protected by copyright. Images are used for illustrative purposes under fair use. If you own the rights to any image and wish it to be removed, please don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will act promptly.
The American actor-cum-crypto-celebrity Ansem, known for his guards-down approach towards controversial topics, has just Tweeted an observation that even some would begrudgingly agree with. His observation was short and simple — talking about the spam on social media that is generated by AI. “These auto AI slop replies make me want to do very bad things,” he wrote, along those lines, with a photo that completely captured the sentiment of being cooped up with bot-like answers. Honestly, in recent months, anyone who has been through comments section must have felt that way at least once.
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The image shown had a bat…and it does track. At times, one just wants to put some power behind the object after witnessing the copy-paste drivel in every single comment box. Ansem’s tweet went really viral, and opinions kept pouring in, ranging from making light of the matter and cracking jokes to having genuine concerns about human interaction in this cyber world.
One user sarcastically went: “AI replies making you homicidal? Sounds like a Tuesday in crypto Twitter.” And honestly, that’s fair. The crypto space itself is chaotic enough without bots adding to the noise. Another user responded in almost a rebuke, saying the bots have made the people “mindless” and that “No one wants to use their own brains to think things anymore and it’s very sad.” Same person was quick to add, “Part of me wants to see the bad things tho 😂😂.” So yeah, there are some mixed feelings.
Some responses got darker. One user detailed how accounts are grown just to be sold later for fake engagement:
“They grow accounts as reply guys and resell them once they have enough following,” he said. If that is true, it is a serious new dimension of manipulation on social media, similar to tactics seen in sports marketing, like Saquon Barkley landing on the Madden 26 cover but fans worrying about the curse. Another post was far more serious: “Imagine this x10,000 done at nation-state level and that’s what US enemies are doing on social media to divide us.”
Some people played the downer, and some others had fun with it. “Like how bad? Eat a whole can of Pringles bad?” was one response, a tease.
Another one responded with, “Bro BLOCK THEM for a sign of rage punch 🥊.” Honestly, that might be good advice. Blocking could be the only way to save your sanity these days.
The funnest part? Somewhere in a thread complaining about AI replies, someone was continuing to shill their crypto projects. “Yo nigga buy PEMDAS say thanks later,” said one response, meaning someone is always willing to put something up for sale no matter the topic. Another chimed in, “Don’t sleep on $Ling it’s the next big thing.” Classic.
Ansem’s post was touched with the growing public frustration with how automated and impersonal interactions on the internet today have become. Whether it’s bots, paid engagement, or just straight-up the same recurring phrases copy-pasted by people, every single day, some kind of act turns these impersonal beings more human. If even crypto Twitter-a place appreciated for its wild energy-is fed up with it all, then you know this going to a mess.
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One frustrating aspect that could calm down was Ansem’s rant-something all of us have tasted in one form or another. The internet in the past was actually weird and unpredictable in a fun way. Presently, if not weird and unpredictable, it’s just blatantly obvious: Why is this bot so eager to convince me to invest in a coin named after an anime character? Perhaps it is about blocking. Or maybe hitting something. Metaphorically speaking.
In the space of just a few short years, Glencore (LSE: GLEN) shares have gone from being one of the FTSE 100 best performers, to its worst. Year to date, the share price is down a fifth, and in the last year its shed over a third of its value. As a long-term investor, my patience is being sorely tested, that’s for sure.
Coal assets
The primary driver for the stock’s weakness is depressed thermal (energy) coal prices. In 2024, adjusted earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for its coal assets declined $3.1bn, to $5.3bn.
Despite this fact, last year, 90% of its institutional shareholders voted to keep its coal assets. I still believe that to be the right move.
In the six months following its acquisition, steel-making coal from EVR contributed $1bn toward EBITDA. I expect this contribution to grow in the coming years as the business realises synergies across the coal value chain, including procurement and marketing.
Energy coal sits in a completely different basket, of course. All the long-term forecasts predict a significant decline in demand. This remains a clear risk to the business. Should demand fall quicker than it foresees, then future revenues could be impacted.
The business has made a bet that demand will remain robust for the next decade, or so. What has become abundantly clear to me is that decarbonising the energy value chain isn’t going to happen overnight. Cheap, baseload electric power remains an overwhelming consideration for growing, developing countries. And that’s where demand for coal will predominantly continue to come from.
Electrification
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said: “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” And this is how I very much view Glencore stock – as a long-term play.
Today, the vast majority of its revenues come from coal. But the business very much sees its future in copper.
I still contend that most investors don’t really understand the challenges faced as we seek to electrify our world. The consensus view is that the miners will just step up and start producing more copper to meet soaring demand. I don’t hold that view.
Firstly, all the major copper miners across the globe continue to suffer from ore grade declines. The fact of the matter is that it’s getting harder to find high-quality assets.
On top of that, large-cap miners are becoming increasingly risk averse. Exploration makes them nervous. And for good reason. Investors have long viewed the industry as destroyers of shareholder wealth.
Cart before the horse
My view’s very simple. Nvidia and the hyperscalers are promising a world where artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly becomes an integral part of our life. Elon Musk foresees a world of robots. But these technologies cannot be built at scale unless investors start appreciating the vital importance of metals. Money doesn’t grow on trees, and neither does copper, or any other base metal.
Its share price may be depressed but management continues to buy back its own stock at record pace. It recently just completed $1bn, and more is expected when it reports half-year results in August. I still contend a re-rate’s coming, which is why I bought some more shares in the past month.
