Loewe has the look

Late last year, in a large back room at the Centro Cultural de la Villa in Madrid, fashion cognoscenti and art buffs drank mellow port and sparkling Champagne and feasted on tapas as they made their way through a multi-cultural maze next door.

There, they saw 16th century shoes made of cork from Barcelona, an Ericsson telephone from 1895, dining room furniture dating back to the early 1900s - remnants from an age of style many believed long gone - in an exhibition organised by venerable Spanish fashion, leather and perfume house Loewe to celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Not far away, in Loewe's corporate headquarters, a different - but related - gathering was taking place. Company head Enrique Loewe, who had been with the company for three decades, had just delivered an anniversary speech about 'mixing the past with the future'.

He was also in the final leg of discussions with chief executives of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) about a takeover bid that would, he hoped, revolutionise the house of Loewe.

It was finally revealed earlier this year that LVMH had paid a reported 20 billion pesetas (HK$1.2 billion) to acquire 70 per cent of the once fully family-owned company, in addition to the 23 per cent it already owned. In an official communique, LVMH said 'the integration of Loewe into the LVMH group would permit the Spanish company to retain its national identity at the same time as developing its potential'.

With its emphasis on leather accessories, Loewe may have seemed to be an odd acquisition choice for the LVMH empire: after all, Louis Vuitton is one of the most successful high-end leather companies in the world, generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales.