STYLE Edit: Loewe’s It bags Luna and Hammock Nugget – creative director Jonathan Anderson introduces new proportions for the Spanish luxury brand’s Renaissance-inspired spring/summer 2022 collection
- Anderson designed the unconventional Gate and Puzzle, and now two more innovative bags, inspired by the work of 16th century Florentine painter, Jacopo Pontormo
- Founded in Spain in 1846, by the 20th century, Loewe was the choice of Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner and Sophia Loren
That was when one of the world’s oldest luxury houses was founded by a consortium of Spanish leather craftsmen led by one Enrique Loewe. By 1905, the company had become an official supplier to the Spanish crown, and as the 20th century progressed, Loewe increasingly became the choice of celebrities, from Marlene Dietrich to Ava Gardner to Sophia Loren.
As a leather expert of unmatched heritage, bags have always been right at the centre of Loewe’s line-up of products. But they’ve moved to another level since 2013, when its creative vision started to be driven by Anderson, who has since introduced a number of lines that became immediate classics, such as the saddle-shaped Gate and the bulging, unconventionally proportioned Puzzle.
The designer again brings a characteristically innovative touch to this spring/summer collection, which is inspired by the work of 16th century Florentine mannerist painter Jacopo Pontormo. A trailblazer in numerous respects, Pontormo pioneered a style of painting that moved on from the emphasis on balance, proportion and harmony that had previously dominated Renaissance aesthetics, towards experimentation with form and perspective, deliberately privileging the asymmetrical, the unbalanced and the artificial, foregrounding the strange and exaggerated, and presenting figures in rich, ambiguous compositions in which they seem to flow into each other.
In Anderson’s new collection, this translates into a twisted, contorted look that similarly plays with proportion and symmetry. It’s a collection that constantly delights with the unexpected: otherwise figure-hugging dresses are highlighted by unexpected, discombobulating protrusions; heels resemble candy canes and nail polish bottles; metal plates explode incongruously across the front of dresses and boats; and otherworldly capes create unreal silhouettes.