Loewe’s Latest Collaboration Puts Ultra-Refined Accessories Center Stage

Jonathan Anderson is obsessed with craftsmanship. The visionary Northern Irish designer at the helm of Loewe likes to dissolve the boundaries between fashion and art, occupying a rarefied space where the two are interchangeable. In 2017, Anderson even curated his own exhibition, Disobedient Bodies, at The Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire, England. Displaying pieces by artists he admires, alongside work by his long-time collaborator Jamie Hawkesworth and fellow designers such as Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo, it seemed like a physical manifestation of his seasonal moodboards.

A mahogany bookcase by turn-of-the-century British architect-designer Charles Francis Annesley Voysey that featured in the exhibition was described by Anderson to Vogue as “the most modern thing that had been done in 1901”. A key architect of the Arts and Crafts movement, Voysey’s aesthetic was defined by an obsession with form and function over ostentation, once saying “simplicity in decoration is one of the essential qualities without which no true richness is possible”. He worked with a pared-back color palette – flat shades bordered by dark or pale outlines – and is revered for his cadenced patterns of birds, florals and hearts for wallpapers, fabrics, carpets and tiles.

This season, Anderson has applied Voysey’s beautiful yet uncomplicated designs to his striking handbag silhouettes. Cult shapes such as the ‘Flamenco’ clutch are unveiled alongside the ‘Herbarium’ pouch, decorated in floral prints, their vibrant colors popping against a single-shade literal and figurative canvas.

Anderson’s highly coveted Loewe handbags delight with their unique silhouettes, quirky accents and sumptuous leather – the Spanish maison was, after all, founded as a leather specialist 175 years ago. Sophisticated, classic, collectible investment pieces, these bags have all the hallmarks of a great piece of art.

Some standouts from this collaboration include the dinky ‘Herbarium’ – a compact, leather-trimmed drawstring pouch made from lightweight twill and smooth tan leather, detailed with a logo-stamped tab and festooned with Voysey’s long-stemmed florals in soft white and warm sand, which perfectly offset the tangerine, pale pink and sky-blue blooms. The ‘Flamenco’, meanwhile, is embroidered with pretty blue snowdrops on an anagram-logo background.

These bags make the perfect accompaniment to the brand’s happy, hue-filled FW22 collection – team them with vibrant knitwear, or style with more muted pieces to add a pop of color.

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