“You are completely relaxed, completely at ease . . . .” The instructions of a hypnotherapist on the voice-over doubled as an apt visual description of the put-together Loewe women who wended their way around the Miró murals at the Maison de l’UNESCO in Paris this morning. Whether it’s for his eponymous brand in London, or here, at the heights of a Spanish luxury label owned by LVMH, Jonathan Anderson stands out for placing his fashion in a context, giving a sense of the environments and spheres of interest his customers might inhabit. Loewe’s targets are the classes who collect art and furnish the expensive places they live in. Perhaps this might have something to do with Anderson’s repeated use of the term curated when speaking about the fit-and-flare framework of this Fall collection, and the all-important placement of the house bags, art jewelry, and extra-large bug-eyed, gold-mirrored sunglasses within it.
Of course, it’s always boring when ready-to-wear becomes a mere human canvas for accessory “exhibitions,” but Anderson is proving sharp at setting a fashion agenda at Loewe. That read in the waist-cinching silhouettes and handkerchief-point hems—a more graceful and grown-up image than he has tried before, and without such gimmicks as the plastic trousers he did last season. Instead, he devoted attention to tackling the “mature” subject of tweed suits, making them with deep fringes, and putting a tweed-sprouting Amazona bag (the house tote since 1975) in the mix. Perhaps the centerpiece, though, was a total look in dark tan leather—a coat, trousers, and two matching bags. The color is the Loewe classic oro, or gold. Anderson may be a designer who can spin a tale and move on to the next thing at the speed of light, but a mindful contemplation of that look leads serenely to the conviction that Loewe’s sights are set on being the avant-garde competitor of Hermès.
