Ethereal, poetic, and aristocratic were three words Jonathan Anderson used to describe his Loewe Spring collection, and he wasn’t exaggerating. From his first look out, a white lace tunic with a ruff collar over matching trousers, the visual accumulation of the exquisitely refined, minutely crafted clothes that followed was almost incalculably overwhelming. For once that whole set of fashion clichés truly applies: It was stunning, uplifting, incredible to watch.
Anderson has already succeeded in putting craft and handwork at the heart of Loewe—his intuition that people would respond to the touch of a human hand in the digital age has proven spot-on. This time, he moved it onto a different plane, away from the earthy vernacular of the homemade and into the realms of “a different kind of craft, which is ultimately historical,” he said. “I looked at the 16th and 17th centuries, where the craft was in the tiniest thing . . . where you had to rely on precision.”
Techniques of lace-making and fine embroidery that a modern audience might associate only with antique treasures and museum portraits were brought to life in layers of pristine transparency. It tested the eye and the vocabulary to capture what was being seen: Chantilly, guipure, and marguerite lace; drawn threadwork; sprigged voile shapes; and memories evoking christenings, weddings, chemises, nightdresses, and the laundered and starched household linens of the past.
But not “of the past” at all. The real genius of Anderson is how subtly he embeds his references in a wardrobe that is wholly designed for today. Romance and escapism are all very well in theory, but when fashion brinks on costume, it will only ever live in fashion pictures. Anderson’s ambition for Loewe is far more applied than that—he’s a born merchandiser who wants his clothes to be bought and worn. The maximalism of the quality is streamlined into gracefully minimalist fit-and-flare shape, the silhouette he’s stamped on the house. “I thought: Keep the silhouette and expand on it,” he said. Profits are pouring into the bottom line because of that.
And another thing to notice: Anderson is a brilliant practitioner of subliminal brand messaging. Loewe is a Spanish house, and that doesn’t just register in the stream of desirable and functional fine leather bags he continually tools for the label. The aristocratic Spanish-ness was right there too, even in the headline-grabbing pannier-hip dresses he sent out in this show. Think about it; it’s a shape that reverberates with Spanish cultural significance—with Velázquez’s 1656 Las Meninas portrait of the Spanish royal family. All his revivals of lace and linen fit into that context too—the marvelous fabrics depicted in the paintings of Goya and Zurbarán and the golden age of Spain, which line the galleries of the Prado in Madrid, Loewe’s home city.
The class of contemporary art-world customers who Anderson has magnetized to Loewe will doubtless appreciate that signaling. This collection was an intelligent tour de force on every level. And as high flown and beautiful as it is, Anderson is determined that it will be delivered in every detail.
