Alex Chinneck references American streetscapes in surreal Dior window displays

Knotted clocks and twisted cars are among 14 sculptures that British artist Alex Chinneck has created for the windows of Dior stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Chinneck was commissioned to develop a series of artworks for House of Dior New York and House of Dior Beverly Hills that reinterpret common fixtures of American streets in his signature surrealist style.

"Dior is 'the House of dreams' and this family of 14 sculptures embraces the surrealism and widened possibilities of dreaming by weaving fantasy into familiar objects from the streetscapes of each House," Chinneck explained.

For the store on the corner of 57th Street and Madison in Manhattan, Chinneck created nine sculptures based on symbols including yellow taxis, clocks and traffic lights.

These familiar objects found throughout "the city that never sleeps" appear to have been twisted, bent or knotted, creating a dreamlike sequence of large-scale window displays.

At the House of Dior Beverly Hills, five more artworks reinterpret some of the familiar sights of Los Angeles, such as an old-school red Cadillac.

In both stores, local street lamps are reimagined in forms that frame and illuminate mannequins dressed in Dior's couture garments.

The New York House features cast-metal street lanterns twisted to form a bow, while the Beverly Hills window display includes a romantic cinematic scene incorporating a lamp that is bent over to form a swing.

While the sculptures are based on objects drawn from their locations, the shapes they adopt evoke aspects of Dior's fashion heritage, including ribbons, threads and drapery.

"It's a joy to conceive sculptures that interact with their locations, with the story of Dior and with Jonathan Anderson's magical designs," said Chinneck, referring to the brand's recently appointed creative director.

"Dior is synonymous with the bow and the lily of the valley, and with arching flowing forms and metal bouquets, I have sought to reinterpret these visual identities as bold, elegant sculptures," he added.

The project was informed by Dior's 2026 Cruise Show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), based on a fantasy film script that paid homage to the American dream that Christian Dior wrote about when he first travelled to California in 1947.

It was the first Dior Cruise show since Anderson took over as creative director in 2025. He previously held the same role at Loewe, where he established the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize.

Dior regularly collaborates with leading architects and designers on its stores and runway shows, including a Geneva store surrounded by six interweaving resin petals and a store in Tokyo that is surrounded by a golden bamboo replica of its Paris headquarters.

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