Loewe Offers a New Take on the Runway Show for Spring/Summer 2021

As social distancing redefines fashion week to a virtual format, Loewe chose to pack up the fashion show and bring it right to your door. Loewe's Men Spring/Summer 2021 and Women precollection was presented in the form of an archive box divided into sections. The archive box tells the story of Jonathan Anderson's own creative process in a unique and sensorial experience.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented moment, which puts us to the test. The future will eventually follow its course, but I am interested in today: fashion is rooted in the present after all. We focused the work process on the mannequin," explained Jonathan in the written preface. "With this box, I share this process with you, from the initial idea to the fashion show, so that you can enjoy it, be involved in it, experience it."

Loewe's show-in-a-box is a new creative direction that revisits the Duchampian model of 'Museum in a Box,' in which the artist Marcel Duchamp made his entire work accessible to the spectators. Jonathan Anderson's featured booklet references the collection's inspirations from the American sculptor Claes Oldenburg's work to Swiss photographer Walter Pfeiffer's photographs. The looks and bags become 3D models for a 360-degree view, while the lookbook combines all the printed looks of the men's collection and the women's pre-collection on a block of paper. The shoes become postcards while the sunglasses are wearable, thanks to clever perforated edges that allow you to detach the new models and try them on. The fabric references, the color palette, and the studies on the weaves allow us to realistically assess the garments.

In the box as well as online, there's the look 23 pattern that allows you to recreate the garment at home. The Show-in-a-box also includes the runway's soundtrack showcased on a fully functional portable cardboard turntable that allows for manual musical reproduction with the voiceover of Dr. James Fox recorded at Loewe's headquarters in Getafe. The runway show's set and location becomes a pop-up book in which volumes and patterns shape the imaginary event's location.

But let's talk about the clothes. The new collection focuses on Anderson's universe of fluidity, circular silhouettes, and helical modeling in which everything is predisposed to the fluid movement of the clothes. Male garments are interchangeable with female ones and some are transformable, like a patchwork leather jacket. Bold volumes are seen in balloon sleeves and sculptural silhouettes where fabrics overlap in a mix of sinuous curves. The irregular cut of wool knitwear and the extreme textures found in the collection are a reminder that craftsmanship is at the center of everything Loewe produces.

See the entire Spring/Summer 2021 men's collection and the women's pre-collection below, and be sure to experience all the show's elements on Loewe's website now.