Loewe SS15

Initial reaction:

For a designer who's pioneered the second wave of fashion's obsession with the 'avant-bland', J.W. Anderson's inaugural womenswear collection for Loewe was sure to see him rip up and completely redefine what we've come to expect from the house. Over the last few months, he's successfully shifted the branding of Loewe's graphic language – with the help of M/M Paris – but this morning, inside a 1950s brutalist building in Paris (where Le Corbusier was on the architectural committee) he set out to put on a show where his garments would take us into an "uplifting dreamscape." 

Beauty in brutalism: 

Despite the severity of the surroundings (the audience sat on cold concrete plinths) Anderson constructed a collection that revolved around 'softness' and the power of human touch. Gone was the rigidity that has, at times, dominated his own collections. Instead, his garments were all carried by a certain fluidity – nude suede transformed classic trench coats whilst colourful leather appliqués were stitched like patchwork onto cut-out dresses. Prints from the Loewe archives were transferred onto flesh-toned latex, a play on the idea of skin and leather. Backstage Anderson said that today's show "was all about the venue," where the fluidity of the garments stood out against the harness of the show space. 

Changing the view:

“I wanted to make sure that each person had a different vantage point on the collection,” Anderson explained after the show. “I feel like boredom is the biggest problem in fashion, and I like this idea that every image can be fundamentally different because of the lighting. It was interesting this morning when the space was completely dark – it was a very different mood, and then by the time everyone turned up it lifted, it felt more uplifting and a bit more becoming."