“I love fashion,” said Johnathan Anderson to The New York Times in 2019, “but I will not let fashion dictate me.” 

On March 17^th, whispers and murmurs were silenced as fashion’s worst-kept secret was confirmed: Jonathan Anderson was leaving Loewe. While serving eleven years as the Spanish brand’s creative director, the Northern Irish fashion designer transformed the 178-year-old atelier into a modern trailblazer. Historically a leather goods specialist supplying to the Spanish royalty, Loewe is renowned for its quality and craftsmanship: think linen smock-wearing men with twirly moustaches toiling away on a big wooden crafting table. In 2024, Loewe stood unshakeable at the top of the Lyst Index, overtaking Miu Miu and Prada, making it one of the most noteworthy houses to date. Despite being in the hands of many esteemed creative directors, including Narciso Rodriguez, José Enrique Oña Selfa, and Stuart Vevers, the house was stuck in the nestle of traditionalism—a strength that became its biggest limitation. 

In 2013, after LVMH executives invested a minority stake in Anderson’s brand JW Anderson, the then 29-year-old designer, who had previously worked at Prada and Versace, was appointed to the role of creative director. Pierre-Yves Roussel, the then CEO of LVMH, shared that “[Anderson’s] capacity to transform tradition into an exciting vision for the present would make him also the perfect creative director for Loewe.” Anderson entered the atelier like a tornado, introducing trompe l'oeil and A-line dresses bulging with mini cars early on in his tenure. 

Lending their professional expertise, fashion forecaster Laura Mulcahy and fashion writer Glynis Traill-Nash reflected on how Anderson reshaped Loewe into the powerhouse it is today and reflected on his legacy and formidable approach to creative direction. 

Mulcahy explained that Loewe's resurgence in popularity was due to the long-awaited change Anderson brought. “During the mid-2000s, a key designer was Phoebe Philo at Celine, and her aesthetic dominated and created a quiet luxury conversation.” Then came Anderson, “who had just as strong an artistic voice but was much more lenient towards arts and crafts, underpinning a new kind of taste and aesthetic.” The brand’s success grew organically with many years of consistent good work, ultimately raising Loewe above competitors who lacked a “true voice or a kind of true style.”

Citing inspiration from nature, the crash sculptures of John Chamberlain, and wicker baskets, Anderson was always infatuated with the world beyond the seams of his garments. It can be said that what revived Loewe in the zeitgeist was not only the designer's ability to widen the dormant catalogue of well-crafted handbags or fine materials but, as Nash observed, his willingness to perpetuate “cultural relevancy.”

What is this mysterious “cultural relevancy,” and how is it that Loewe managed to erupt as a phoenix from the ashes, especially as so many brands tried and failed to wear the dunce hat of “cringe”? 

According to Nash, Anderson’s manipulation of the mundane “jolts us out of our expectation of what a fashion brand is, what a coat is and what a bag is.” By responding to the turbulence of modern society and “tapping into things that people don’t usually tap into for fashion” or “looking at all the elements of the world, at craft, at art and at politics,” he understood that fashion should have a symbiotic relationship with the zeitgeist.

Anderson’s fixation with materiality and culture can be steadily traced across his runway collections. From his first collection for Loewe in 2015, leather scraps were layered into T-shirts. This experimentation with material expanded to conjoined leather boot-pants in his Fall/Winter 2019 Menswear collection. Playfully subverting leather's inherent stiffness, Anderson sculpted mini dresses to mimic the sweeping movement of fabric caught in motion for Fall/Winter 2022. This idea reached its apex the following year, when the brand collaborated with metal artist Elie Hirsch to create billowing coats out of copper and pewter, transforming inconspicuous garments into viscerally surreal sculptures. In 2016, Anderson established the Loewe Craft Prize, awarding 50,000 euros to the winning entrant. Welcoming submissions from all over the world, Anderson extended Loewe’s legacy beyond the brand's history.

For Loewe’s Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear collection, Anderson intended to marry “the organic and fabricated,” to reflect on the disconnect between humans and nature in the digital age. Models wore stitched-together tablets that projected various scenes of nature. Here, Anderson questioned whether modern consumers primarily experience nature through pixels, engaging with the wild and untamed via convenient algorithms before retreating to their sterilised urban reality.

Anderson counters this notion, envisioning an alternative state where track pants, hoodies and sneakers are overrun by grass and moss. Through the sartorial symbolism of mass manufacturing being reclaimed by the wild, he expresses a hope that nature will remain omnipotent in the face of the contemporary industrial complex. It’s an existentialist perspective, suggesting that the consequences of man-made society and industries will one day be erased, as all things return to the earth. This vision carries particular weight when considering that the fashion industry is one of the planet’s greatest pollutants.

Anderson’s appreciation for art was clear in his Autumn/Winter 2023 show, where dresses with a blurred trompe l’oeil print and other dresses, referencing German painter Gerhard Richter, questioned at what point the dress ceases to be a dress. When a garment is continuously reinterpreted by designer after designer, season after season, can it still be what it once was or a shadowy simulacrum of itself? 

Anderson marked his 10th anniversary with a spring/summer collection in a white room, barren except for a Tracey Emin sculpture. Anderson presented his most concentrated thematic discussion as he renewed the old and seeped uncanniness into the mundane. Donning upside-down aviators, models wore hoop dresses that resembled little of their constricting ancestors. Modernised to have the silk georgette rest on a single threadline, the crinolette gave the dress a sense of airiness. T-shirts, embossed with feathers and displaying portraits of classical musicians and paintings, referenced celebrity merchandise and souvenirs. 

As Loewe maintained its conceptual and intellectual reputation, its financial earnings grew. The challenge was how the brand could appeal to a new, critical generation of fashion enthusiasts without alienating its older clientele. Mulcahy understands that heritage is the answer, elaborating that craftsmanship, slow processes, and attention to detail are always going to be considered signs of luxury. Nash shares this sentiment: although Anderson “changes things quite radically from season to season,” he always anchors the audience with the house codes of “leather” and “craftsmanship.”

This commitment to ingenuity extends to Loewe’s now iconic digital marketing. Mulcahy reveals that his approach had been “consistent,” with social beings “entwined with runway collections.” “You can tell there’s a team of people working behind this that’s human, and they’re creating intriguing ideas, and they’re responding to culture,” she adds. This gave “credit to his audience” instead of “leaning into an algorithm of shock and awe.”

Mulcahy uses the Spring/Summer 2024 Juergen Teller campaign featuring Maggie Smith as an example. By casting a legendary actress who had touched the hearts of multiple generations spanning from Harry Potter to Downton Abbey, Anderson drew out a “shared appreciation from their audience.” One that transcends fleeting trends and acts as a mirror and window to the zeitgeist. This also applies to other campaigns featuring actors Daniel Craig, Greta Lee, Ayo Edebiri, and Dakota Fanning. In the stripped-back portraits of the actors, Anderson explored the idea of actors as blank canvases, embodying transformative abilities as viewers project characters and narratives onto them—much like they do with fashion.

At the 2025 Paris Fashion Week, attendees did not see the Autumn/Winter Loewe collection being paraded down the runway as usual. Instead, sculptural leather jackets and billowing dresses on linen mannequins were presented in the 18th-century Hotel de Maison. The garments were displayed with a curation of sculptures and artworks, some of which referenced previous collections and campaigns. Standing quietly and still, the garments signified an era ending, affirming the suspicion that Anderson would finally depart from the brand. 

Nash notes that Anderson's influence on Loewe stems from his ability to provide a fresh perspective on the brand's past. When asked to associate words with Anderson’s Loewe, Nash concluded with “witty, esoteric, eccentric, playful.” Laura then responded with “unexpected, rewarding, intelligent.” Such adjectives are impressive medals to decorate Anderson’s uniform, though their lustre is only winking at the greater feats to come—not only in fashion but in shaping what the discipline can become.