Stuart Vevers' Spring Loewe collection really needs to be seen up close. What he's doing at the Spanish leather-goods house is imbued with the kind of luxury that only fully reveals itself when touched: the butter-soft, wafer-thin suede elephant gray trench ("suede that's like velvet," as Vevers puts it); the malleable matteness of an ostrich zip-front skirt, or the pristine white softness of the classic "Amazone" tote bag he's retrieved from the archive. And there's much more. A self-confessed detail fanatic, Vevers, who moved from London to company headquarters in Madrid earlier this year, says he's been so obsessed with orchestrating bags, clothes, shoes, and jewelry that he's only had one day off a month.
Vevers came up with a general styling theme for Spring, loosely pegged on "Chris von Wangenheim photos, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, and a touch of Memphis design," but, he points out, "the real inspiration is Loewe itself." In the clothes, Vevers played with military-cum-naval themes and then used the symbols: brass buttons as handbag chains and bracelets, ropes as gold belts and cuffs, Plexiglas anchors for pendants. Worked in there, too, was a perfectly on-trend outbreak of dots and spots: first on a perforated, tobacco-colored cotton dress, and then more prolifically on polka-dot bag appliqués or paint splashes on suede. "What I like," said Vevers, "is how 'classic' and 'sexy' are good bedfellows. I thought there was no point in joining a 'proper' house without doing it properly and respecting the integrity of what it is."
