There are some shows that can rekindle your faith in fashion. They frequently occur under unusual conditions. On an early October morning, as the first autumn chill swept over Paris, a swarm of recently reunited fashion folk entered Loewe's massive lime-washed, purpose-built pine box of a show hall, to witness a radical reset of what fashion may look like in the here-and-now. There were no props or artworks, only a "blank piece of paper," as creative director Jonathan Anderson characterized the scene.
Perhaps the word'reset' isn't exactly correct. The Renaissance period seems more appropriate, especially given Jonathan's "all-time favorite artwork" — the 16th century The Deposition from the Cross by Italian mannerist artist Jacopo Pontormo. Coincidentally, it was completed near the end of an outbreak of plague in Italy, it depicts angels in their sumptuous, colourful drapes, all of them looking a bit hysterical, mouths agasp and heads tilted back.
In their projecting silhouettes, the bare-faced models who emerged from a rectangular hole in the floor resembled a race of cyborgs. They appeared in soft jerseys harpooned like Lynn Chadwick sculptures, organically curved mirrored breastplates, and sugared-almond chiffon curtains that channeled medieval deities and Japanese anime heroines at the same time. Their stiletto heels were filled with resin red roses, bars of soap, birthday candles, bottles of nail polish, and cracked eggs, as if they'd walked through the ruins of a tamed civilization in the distant past and arrived via this lo-fi, eco-spaceship. After all, angels are aliens, and the two frequently resemble humans in our thoughts. Right in before of our eyes, the body as we know it underwent an unimaginable transformation into something else.
It felt jarringly off-piste in comparison to other shows' jazzed-up sweats and overdone classicism; an olive branch for people who wish to leave the old ways behind and truly walk into the future. Jonathan described it as "neurotic, trippy, and totally hysterical." "I feel like presenting a concert now is some kind of surrealist, even neurotic, act, since everything appears to be normal, but it isn't," he explains. "I didn't want something that was absolutely founded in reality." It had to have a distance.”
Sure, it's a long way from reality or even familiar modernity. But it also comes from Loewe, and what has come to be expected of it as a major LVMH fashion business. It's been a hot minute since Jonathan took the helm, and while he's now considered one of the most prominent designers of the 2010s, you get the idea he wanted to shake off the staleness and introspection that comes from working remotely for a year and a half. "People know I exist in this field, but it was wonderful to do a presentation to indicate that I am still here in some way," he later reflects. "You can't become too comfortable with the idea of yourself as a brand. I felt like we needed to take a break.
