What makes a conversation a good conversation? The interlocutor Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe and founder of the firm that bears his name, masters the subjects that all luxury brand owners wish their designers could control. In the era of fleeting tenure (according to specialist publication WWD, half of the talent at the helm of European firms have held the title for less than five years), he is about to complete a decade at the label of ‘Spanish origin owned by LVMH, since which it has not failed to arouse the curiosity of the audience and the worm of the consumer.
As a sample, the Spring-Summer 2024 collection presented yesterday in Paris in front of the pupils of stars such as Pharrell Williams or Rauw Alejandro and the presence of three fountains by the artist from the United States Lynda Benglis. Her liquid sculptures (she is famous for her latex works) and the idea of ??water (how it flows, how it changes, how it adapts) supported the vision of a creative with ideas that, instead of ‘adjust to outdated trends or the whims of the customer, they invite you to explore alternative paths.
Sets that start in nappa and end up in suede, pieces full of crystals, knit as thick as it is soft, and a new declination of the Puzzle handbag (if the accessories market is based on repetition, its patchwork construction in which it seems like a kind of chance that no two look the same) served to underline the most important thing: a new silhouette that, like the eyes from which it is viewed, alters the perspective of things.
“I like the idea of ??looking from below, as if through a fish-eye lens, that the torso becomes smaller and the legs longer,” commented Anderson after the presentation. With this change in proportions, he managed to get every present and future spectator to adopt the point of view of the guests at the parade, to have them all look up and down, to complete the exercise of putting themselves in someone else’s shoes.
It also gave the new an air of vulnerability. The balance of the popular with the elevated, the obvious with the subtle or complicated is a difficult art to master especially in the fashion industry, where any combination of the intellectual with the commercial runs the risk of ‘end up shipwrecked in a sea of ??indifference. Anderson navigates these waters comfortably. Your ideas do not interfere with the product. On the contrary: their ideas justify their existence.
