Dior and Prada

For Christmas 2026, two major houses made the same bet: put the camera aside and go back to the pencil. Dior and Prada chose traditional animation, drawn frame by frame, to tell their holiday stories. It is a choice that says a lot about the place of craftsmanship in luxury, and about how brands now see AI-generated imagery.

Dior: “Christian Dior’s Night in Color”, directed by Sylvain Chomet

For its holiday film, Dior turned to Sylvain Chomet, the director of The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist. Under the creative direction of Jonathan Anderson, the house unveiled in early November a short animated film lasting a few minutes, entirely hand-drawn using techniques inherited from the 1940s.

The story is inspired by the friendship between Christian Dior and Marlene Dietrich. On Christmas Eve in Paris, the actress calls the couturier from Hollywood: she needs a colorful dress to shoot her first film in color. The seamstresses of avenue Montaigne then work through the night to create it. The film features the voices of Robert Pattinson, Rihanna, Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin, and its characters also appear in the windows of Dior boutiques around the world.

Prada: “Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand”

Prada took a similar path. Its holiday campaign blends live-action photography with hand-drawn characters. The animation is directed by John Pomeroy, a former Disney animator known for An American Tail and The Land Before Time. The live-action images are by Glen Luchford, under the creative direction of Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.

The campaign features Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Chen Haoyu, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Luther Ford, surrounded by mice making off with a shoe, a sulky-looking fox and a snow lynx drawn to a handbag. Each animal was drawn frame by frame, and the lighting of the photographs was designed to match that of the drawings. Prada also released a behind-the-scenes film showing this pencil work.

A trend that goes beyond Christmas

Dior and Prada are not alone. Earlier this year, Dior had already entrusted the story of its Miss Dior fragrance to Ugo Bienvenu and the studio Remembers, with a film featuring hand-painted backgrounds inspired by Japanese animation. For the holidays, Loewe is launching a collection built around Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, a stop-motion classic. Bottega Veneta has teamed up with Tove Jansson’s Moomins. And beyond luxury, Levi’s went for claymation and Porsche for a hand-painted film.

This is not entirely new: Hermès has long used stop motion to showcase its silk scarves and accessories, and Cartier has often brought its panthers to life in animated end-of-year tales. But rarely have so many houses made this choice in the same season.

Why traditional animation appeals to luxury brands

• Visible craftsmanship. Hand-drawn animation requires thousands of drawings and months of work. Luxury recognizes its own values in it: the artisan’s gesture, time, the one-of-a-kind piece.
• An answer to AI-generated images. At a time when flawless visuals can be produced in seconds, the imperfect line of a drawing becomes a sign of authenticity. Several media outlets have in fact presented these campaigns as a response to AI-generated advertising.
• The magic of childhood. Animation is closely tied to Christmas memories. It instantly creates a warm emotion, without needing to show the product.
• A world that can be extended. The characters of an animated film easily carry over into shop windows, capsule collections, objects and social media content.

Our take

At Un Oeil Sur Tout, we have been working in 2D animation, frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation, stop motion and motion design for more than seventeen years. These campaigns remind us that a strong idea, backed by real animation craftsmanship, remains one of the most effective ways to create emotion around a brand. Do you have an animated film project for the holidays or for your brand? Let’s talk.

Sources: WWD, Luxury Tribune, Journal du Luxe, Euronews, Numéro, Wallpaper*. Videos: official Dior and Prada YouTube channels.