.png)
.png)
.png){kind=icon}
.png)
On September 9, I looked at a video of Sabrina Carpenter and Dior's Creative Director, Jonathan Anderson, walking on treadmills for some reason. On September 10, I knew why. With another video posted to Instagram, Dior and A24 announced "a new creative collaboration bringing together film, fashion and theater."
The two-year partnership is spearheaded by Anderson and centered on A24's Cherry Lane Theatre. In the deal, Dior becomes the off-Broadway theatre's main partner, supporting programming across film, theatre, talks, and live events.
Everybody Eats, Even the Starving Artist
For Dior, you get to borrow cultural credibility to reach a younger audience. You also create positive brand associations by championing the arts. According to Anderson, yes, they are "trying to get into the cultural zeitgeist." Still, they're also "selling the idea that a brand is real." They want to prove there's more to the house than just the bottom line.
For A24, you get more visibility in the fashion world, funding, and the opportunity to program and develop more in your theater. LVMH money is different too. Not only can you put on more shows, but you can also inspire the next generation of artists and connect them to your brand.
For the larger community, we see theater workers getting paid, community members getting programming, and youth programs being created to nurture talent and kick off beautiful things. More broadly, the fact that this lasts for years makes it far more enticing to people than some one-off project that starts, ends, and gets buried under next week's Instagram posts.
Supporting Culture Instead of Co-Opting It
Brands can't authentically create culture; that's just not how this works. Culture happens, and brands react, but the best brands do so with intention. This collaboration feels more like patronage, and that's the best it gets. You're supporting culture, not co-opting it. In this case its arts and theater, but the approach can apply more broadly to any sub-culture.
Instead of a "hello, fellow teens" approach, you're nurturing culture, building brand equity, and planting the idea that you not only belong in the space, but you're also there to stick around. For all stakeholders, it'll be refreshing to see a brand that doesn't just pop in and out at its convenience. They might even buy something.
.png)
