Is there another designer who achieves more with less than Jonathan Anderson? Doubtfully, given that his fall Loewe show was another stunning presentation, despite his ambition to simplify and streamline fashion – the biting point between dream and reality. The Loewe creative director has been doubling down on surrealism with over-the-top sizes and shapes for the past couple of seasons. But Anderson used a somewhat different approach for fall 2023, taking the commonplace and expertly turning it into something completely unexpected.
The show may have been the most inventive of the Paris performances thus far, taking place inside a castle outside of Paris (Château de Vincennes, a former fortification and royal house on the eastern fringe of Paris)
A collection of 21 compacted spheres, each made of nearly 1000 pounds of confetti, was scattered throughout the all-white performance space. Confetti has been collected around the artworks where the cubes collided because they speak to the conflict between fluidity and compactness. The artworks were created by Lara Favaretto. The show began with diverse silhouettes, textures, and the interplay between materials, bodies, and light, continuing the subtly intimate approach. Anderson’s aim of the visual play is aided by draped satin dresses supported by metal spheres placed on the décolleté, super sparkling coats, pants covered in lilac feathers, two-tone furs, and trompe-l’oeil silk dresses. The Loewe selection includes stiffened blazers from the Fall/Winter 2023 men’s collection, long velvet dresses, and several colored rubber garments.
With collapsed leather Renaissance boots and the use of satin, silk Duchesse, velvet, crystals, and feathers, the influence of the Old Master artists that can be seen in Anderson’s men’s collection was felt here once more. The most inventive pieces in the pastel-colored selection were the feathered ones; the plumes were unusually wide and spread across the clothing like a shell. They were available as a downy covering on a buttery white top with haphazardly protruding feathers or thick-textured, flared blue-gray trousers resembling anthropomorphic birds.
One light blue dress looked like nothing more than a length of satin draped from a large gold ball at the breast. Blurred prints on loose gowns resembled an x-ray. The looks are broken down into one garment reduced to its most basic form and worn with a gestural detail, such as folded arms, a brooch that gathers the intricacy of the volumes, a chain that supports the drapery, and
sculptural folds that unfold on the woman’s body. All of these outfits are paired with leather pants-boots or décolleté that slim the feminine figure. Anderson presents the new leather Squeeze Bag with a squishy handle, donut chain detail, and the maxi Tote Puzzle and the Paseo.
Among the celebrities and notable attendees were Catherine O’Hara, Jamie Dornan, Taeyong Lee, Emily Ratajkowski, Dan Levy, Indya Moore, Kelela, Chloe Sevigny, Josh O’Connor, Karol G, Bad Gyal, Luca Guadagnino, Naomi Campbell, Amina Muaddi, Tina Kunakey, and Chiara Mastroianni