With a familiar aesthetic of quirky luxury, unmatched creative ability combined with a tribute to painter Albert York, Jonathan Anderson continues to disrupt all conventional fashion rules in Loewe Fall 2024.
Irish designer Jonathan Anderson is a creative master, specializing in challenging the normalcy, the traditional “ineffable” rules of the fashion world with unique ideas that few creative minds can realize. With his quirky fashion lens, Jonathan Anderson has captivated countless souls with a fashion world that says no to limitations. Since becoming the “king” ruling over Loewe, this brand has become one of the most anticipated names on every show schedule; because none of us will know what Jonathan will do. Loewe Fall 2024 at this Paris Fashion Week is no exception, successfully arousing the curiosity of the entire fashion industry.
From New York to Paris Fashion Week, the backdrop of the Fall/Winter 2024 fashion weeks or the current fashion scene is divided into two contrasting “factions” – between reality, flexibility, and creative thinking beyond limits. Of course, the Loewe era under Jonathan’s guidance belongs to the latter camp. In Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe, peculiar things against the norms and unusual puzzles are seen as natural. This was once again replicated in Loewe Fall 2024 – a collection balancing between practicality and creativity, a luxurious wardrobe woven from unusual rules under an extraordinary design pen, exuding a strong avant-garde vibe.
Jonathan Anderson brings art into life like a true artist, creating a wonderful intersection between art and fashion. Loewe’s creative director unveiled his latest Fall/Winter collection at a small exhibition room, Chateau de Vincennes in Paris, adorned with paintings by artist Albert York all over the walls. Albert York is known for his simple paintings depicting mundane life, nature, flowers, and animals. But these simple paintings have caught the attention of many wealthy art collectors. Albert York’s works are often collected, even becoming “treasures” sought after by the elite. This contradiction, combined with the dreamy beauty of York’s paintings, created a solid foundation for Jonathan to create the Loewe Fall 2024 collection. “I started to explore the idea of origins and the reason why we buy things, as well as why objects have meaning, value for collection,” he shared backstage. The idea of Loewe Fall 2024 is the story of an outsider’s perspective on a world we’ve never experienced before.
Loewe Fall 2024 begins with eye-catching jersey dresses shaped like an hourglass, fabric cut at the waist and then fastened with a large dangling leather piece. Following are voluminous dresses, oversized pants, worn with smooth button-up shirts. These are all items commonly found in most people’s wardrobes, but under Anderson’s eye, they are very distinctive. Here, they are covered with wonders of nature like striking flowers or dazzling vegetables. The “vegetable garden” was “hinted at” all over his personal Instagram, with photos taken by David Sims featuring models holding plates with similar patterns (these are works from the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory – one of the first porcelain factories in England, established around 1745). Elsewhere, Albert York’s paintings are also “drawn” onto a few pieces of clothing. York’s famous roses, daisies, and tulips flourish on cut-out dresses cinched with oversized belts, while greenery grows on billowy pants paired with 18th-century patterned blazer jackets. Furthermore, eagles perched on branches are woven into knitting threads, followed by illustrations of dogs embellished with sparkling mini crystals.
The simple items in Loewe Fall 2024 are playfully transformed, also very sarcastically aimed at “noble” fashion. Details of tuxedo jackets have been transformed into blazers with long shrimp tails trailing on the runway, paired with elegantly oversized trousers. The long and bulky trouser legs are so exaggerated that Jonathan has connected them to the shoe tip. This may be the “topic” and style that only Jonathan Anderson dares to approach, but somehow, they are still confidently wearable. The most interesting style in the collection is perhaps the rigid 2D dresses, like the type of clothes we often dress our paper dolls in when we were little, or a seductive dress with a narrow black and white striped print with triangular features under the armpits. The collection becomes “quirkier” with a pleated flower dress paired with a giant “water drop” hovering on the shoulder; and more masculine with neat little jackets with neatly buttoned shirts up to the neck.
The collection showcases Jonathan’s unprecedented creativity. It makes viewers lean forward, squint, and take a deep breath to fully appreciate, because they are not simple as they look. A typical example is the fourth look, consisting of a structured black maxi coat with a wide collar as if cast in gray metallic paint; but upon closer inspection, the collar is actually a painted piece. There are also trousers that seem to be made from a rolled-up carpet, metal-adorned sweater vests reminiscent of “Metropolis,” one of many references to the 1920s or trompe-l’œil striped dresses full of illusions. Or creative pleating techniques that freeze spiral dresses over time, contrasting with knitwear jackets with fluffy fur like a soft cloud, along with puff sleeves with a belt disguised in the folds of the fabric.
This sophistication makes viewers “eye” the new accessories in the collection. We have a cleverly crafted new version of the Squeeze bag, quirky belts, heel-less boots adorned with intricate sequins, unusually inflated bags, and even a “blueberry bundle” bag that is both luxurious and humorous.
