Loewe
Founded in 1846, Loewe (pronounced ‘lo-weh-vay’) is one of the world’s oldest luxury brands still in operation, though it continues to innovate under creative director Jonathan Anderson, who was tapped for the role back in 2013. Named after the German merchant Enrique Loewe, who established the label (and got a nod in Anderson’s 2014 revamp) alongside a group of Spanish leather craftsmen, Loewe subsequently gained popularity with Spanish royals.
Nearly 200 years after it was founded, Loewe has maintained a high reputation for craftsmanship. It has also expanded beyond its speciality in leather goods, launching ready-to-wear collections in 1965. In 1996, it was acquired by the French luxury group LVMH. The British designer Stuart Veversjoined the label in 2008, before he left for Coach and was replaced by the JW Anderson founder in 2013.
Anderson’s debut womenswear collection for Loewe followed a year later, tearing up expectations for the fashion house. Since then, the luxury label’s AW17 campaign has brought Gisele Bündchen out of retirement to be photographed by Steven Meisel, with the renowned photographer also shooting his model clone for the house’s SS19 campaign, and the World Cup-winning American soccer player Megan Rapinoe for AW20. Other campaigns have featured photography from the likes of Jamie Hawkesworth and Gray Sorrenti, with the latter shooting the label’s Studio Ghibli-inspired collection in 2020 (take a closer look here).
In 2019, Anderson debuted his first menswear show for the label in Paris. Following the coronavirus pandemic, however, he chose to experiment with novel presentation concepts, including a fashion show in a box, then a cutout fashion show for editors to construct at their kitchen tables, and (for AW21) a fashion show in a book.
Image credit: Courtesy of Loewe
