Dior’s Animated Holiday Short Enlists Rihanna, Josh O’Connor & Robert Pattinson

Since we declared 2026 the year of the fashion film, brands left and right have been proving our thesis right. No one fashion maison has charted a connection between the entertainment and fashion industries more fervently than Dior, and now, it’s putting its money where its mouth is with a new animated holiday short that sees Rihanna, Greta Lee, Robert Pattinson, and Josh O’Connor on the same billing.

The holiday-campaign season can be a bit of a drag, with labels pairing celebrities to pose in front of anonymous, well-appointed fireplaces and Christmas trees, but Dior said goodbye to all that and instead chose to enlist famous animator Sylvain Chomet — who still uses old-school animating techinques from the 1940s — to bring to life the six-minute short Christian Dior’s Night in Color. It’s also fitting that the story sees Christian Dior (voiced by perpetual French heartthrob Louis Garrel) on a wintry Parisian night finding inspiration to design the legendary Janou dress, worn by Marlene Dietrich (voiced by Camille Cottin).

The cutesy animations also see Josh O’Connor anthropomorphize a Dior-gray chair, Greta Lee, Nine d’Urso, and Nadia Tereszkiewicz act as Dior’s worker bees, and LaKeith Stanfield as Dietrich’s director in Hollywood. The proceedings are all watched over by the narrator, Robert Pattinson, and Rihanna even makes a guest appearance as The Lucky Star atop a Christmas tree that inspires Dior to dream up the scalloped, shining gown that lives in Hollywood history.

Not only is the short film a fun way to get in the holiday spirit, it signals several important trends for the fashion industry at large. Tying fashion to Hollywood has always been a smart idea, and no house has quite the foothold like Dior. (As the short reminds us, Dietrich once said “No Dior, No Dietrich” about her costumes on Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright.) Dior’s creative director Jonathan Anderson is bringing this relationship into the 21st century; earlier this year, Anderson and Dior launched a two-year partnership with A24 to support their endeavors in film. It’s also a continuation and emphasis on Dior’s Resort 2027 collection, which was shown in Los Angeles and dreamed up a new sartorial language for those that call Hollywood home (and their office).

The short film, animated entirely by hand, also reinforces a yearning for things made with a human touch. Prada also released a hand-animated holiday campaign starring Maya Hawke and Sadie Sink, animated by John Pomeroy, and recalls a bygone time when AI and CGI didn’t have a say in the final product. This is something we expect to see not just in fashion, but in culture at large. As the bots come for our jobs and AI writes articles eerily similar to this one in due time, finding a way into storytelling that puts the human experience first will not only stand out, but draw in those looking for brands that speak to more traditional, slower processes. I’m sure if AI wrote the Dior script and animated it, it would’ve taken far less time and money, but the celebration of craft and process looks like it’s going to win the day. After all, AI could never replicate Rihanna’s signature raspy lilt.