Jonathan Anderson’s winning strike is seemingly never-ending, as once again a very interesting, fun, and unique collection has been delivered by him for this Fall/Winter 2024 season. Keeping up his tight relationship with the creative industry aside from fashion, he continues to narrow the line between garments and art pieces, this time by collaborating and honouring the work of Albert York, who was present all along in the show, from the prints to the walls. Loewe fans keep being well fed with the delicious pieces Anderson has as used to and the comfort tastiness that keeps us going back for more, but always adding up a new spice and flavour that makes no show similar to the previous.
Of Albert York's work, it has been said that it has this old-fashioned feeling in the best way possible, that rather than unnecessarily wide and bland creations, the emotions and concepts are contained in small but intense pieces. J.W. Anderson creations could share the same description in a way where each piece has a particular detail, finish, or technique that carries a meaning far deeper than the apparent. In this season, the feeling is a blissful one, where the content of existing, being alive, and being part of this world where we are able to witness all the tiny wonders it has to offer must be celebrated, as Anderson and York agree. For this, a gallery-like show venue sets us in the contemplative mood we often have when appreciating works of art, where we are open to receiving the ideas of others.
There is a wide range of details and concepts throughout the looks. However, the most prominent one that works as a sort of unifying threat is the presence of floral mothifs. Flowers for fall! More groundbreaking than for spring, that's for sure. Said flowers were one of York's favourite subjects, as a vast number of paintings portray their many shapes, types, and colours. Here we can find them as all-over prints on comfy twinset wide pants and fluid dresses, where the florals were beaded rather than printed. The animal world was also present with one of the star pieces of the collection, a structural dress whose main character was a dog in a field. This dog, the field, and the entirety of the dress were made out of beads, placed one by one by the Loewe team in a reflection of the appreciation and the efforts mundane things in life have, a duality that Anderson has shown to be very interested in.
Talking about mundane, is there a material more raw and normal than wood? Well, here, the wood plays an important role as well, even if it is not visible from a distance. The lapels on some of the blazers looked like fur, maybe even a print, due to the texture of the shadows and the light they conferred. In reality, these are carved pieces of wood made to look like everything but them. Think about it again: lapels made out of wood. Who other than Anderson can make this work in such an elegant and seeming way? That’s right, no one else. Continuing this study of techniques and fabrics, the prints do not fall far behind, with the constant search for them to look like materials rather than textiles. This explains, for example, the tartans rendered in mille feuille sliced chiffon, who look like they are melting and fading away on the dresses.
The less conceptual pieces still hold high value for them. The silhouette and construction of the baggy denims and pants are extremely interesting, and the tailored pieces exude this couture aura purposefully. For Anderson, the concepts of couture and tailoring hold intrinsic feminine and masculine ideas, respectively, and by blending them naturally, the particular Loewe allure is made manifest. Statement bucleks of belts are adorments in delicately draped dresses. The functionality of the pieces is questioned in a surreal fashion, and impossible mixes are made possible; that’s part of Anderson’s magic.
