Dior's animated holiday short "Christian Dior's Night in Color", directed by Sylvain Chomet, came out on 3-4 November 2026 and was promoted as hand-drawn. Within days, social media users were circulating frames they said carried the marks of generative AI, and Cartoon Brew, which had first called the film hand-drawn in its headline, took that word out.
“We can’t report that as fact and don’t want to make any definitive claims based on speculation, but the evidence is compelling.”
Jamie Lang, Cartoon Brew, in Cartoon Brew's article · cartoonbrew.com ↗
The six-minute film is set in 1949, when Dior has one night to make Marlene Dietrich a gown after her Hollywood director switches to colour film. The dress draws on Dior's Junon design. Robert Pattinson narrates, with Louis Garrel as Dior, Camille Cottin as Dietrich and Rihanna as a lucky Christmas star. Jonathan Anderson, Dior's creative director, oversaw it, and it follows Prada's hand-animated holiday campaign by John Pomeroy.
One of the frames from the Dior short that social media users circulated as showing signs of generative AI
Image: Cartoon Brew
After rewatching, Cartoon Brew judged AI use likely but not provable, so it reports the matter as unconfirmed. It notes that neither Dior's promotional material nor the behind-the-scenes video mentions AI, and it argues that undisclosed AI would make a campaign praising human artists look deliberately deceptive. On 6 November its writer apologised for repeating the promotional claims without watching closely. Chomet and Dior's PR had not replied to requests for comment.
About Sylvain Chomet
Sylvain Chomet is a French comic writer, animator and film director, born in Maisons-Laffitte in 1963. He is best known for the animated features The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.
His short The Old Lady and the Pigeons (1997) won a BAFTA and the Grand Prize at Annecy and was nominated for an Oscar. The Triplets of Belleville (2003) earned two Oscar nominations, for Best Animated Feature and Best Song. When it came out, his former collaborator Nicolas de Crécy accused him of plagiarising his work and cited it as the reason their collaboration ended.
TheWrap and Nylon, writing before the claims surfaced, had praised the short as human craft set against AI. Chomet is known for The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist. Cartoon Brew says it will update the piece if he or Dior respond. Dior and Anderson also signed a two-year partnership with A24 earlier in 2026.
Promotional image for Christian Dior's Night in Color, the animated holiday short
Image: TheWrap
Sources · 3