Loewe - Spanish luxury Fashion House with traditions
LOEWE is one of the largest fashion houses in the world, founded in 1846 in Spain. Nowadays the creative director of the Spanish luxury brand is a young British designer Jonathan Anderson.
In the previous article we analyzed the history of the brand until 2000, and now we want to talk about the next exciting 20 years of the Loewe.
Impressive leather crafting, focus on quality and active promotion of Spanish crafts are LOEWE's codes. These key features have existed since the creation of the House when it was only a collective leather workshop. The brand's belief in the importance of craftsmanship in our time and influence of art in fashion collections explain the enthusiasm with which the Spanish brand supports contemporary art around the world.
2001 - Belgian designer José Enrique Ona Selfa comes to Madrid to design prêt-à-porter collections for Loewe.
The new creative director of Loewe women's clothing line in 2001 was a Belgian of Spanish descent who studied at the Brussels school, José Enrique Ona Selfa. At that time, the brand's strategy was already aimed at attracting buyers of a wider age group. According to the designer: "We manage to expand the circle of customers and this fills me with pride. New clients are younger, they know a lot about fashion trends and choose our brand without giving up their own style." He added: "Loewe is not a traditional fashion house, but a fashion house with traditions."
In 2008, British designer Stuart Vevers comes to Madrid, replacing Jose Enrique as Loewe's creative director. Before that the designer worked for Calvin Klein, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Mulberry. Now his clear mission has become to restore the codes of the Spanish brand. Stephanie Seymour became the face of the brand's Fall/Winter campaign.
2009 - Stuart Vevers's first collection for Loewe is presented in Paris at Descartes University.
2010 - bullfighter Cayetano Rivera becomes the face of Loewe Siete perfume.
2011 - top model Mariacarla Boscono is in Loewe summer campaign through the lens of Mert Alas and Markus Pigot. There’s a new version of the iconic bag of the Flamenco brand in this shot (design from the 80s).
2012 - Loewe has gone viral on social media with its ad campaign for the Loewe Oro collection, created by Spanish editor and publisher Luis Venegas. It shows the carefree and bright life of young hipsters who give interviews and pose with the brand's accessories. The 2012-2013 FW campaign features some popular faces such as actresses Clara Lago, Angela Molina, model Andres Velenkoso and Bimba Bose.
2012 - At the 60th International Film Festival in San Sebastián, Penelope Cruz presents her new film Born Twice, accessorizing her outfit with a fuchsia Loewe clutch. After that in 2013 the actress becomes the face of the brand, signing a 3-year contract.
2013 - Japanese fashion designer Junia Watanabe creates a limited collection for Loewe. "I was a fan of Junia's work before he started working with the classics, and I wanted his vision to be applied to Loewe," says Stuart Vevers, creative director of the Spanish Fashion House at the time.
After a few productive years, the young and successful British designer Jonathan Anderson replaced Vevers. Regarding his new position, Anderson said: "I love Spain. I love its colors, its ceramics and of course the great artists it has produced, such as Picasso and Balenciaga."
Anderson achieved his goal - he made the Spanish brand international and turned it into one of the favorite brands among fashion insiders. Main features of the new Loewe are a love for craftsmanship and collaboration with outstanding artists.
2014 - an art & design duo Michael Amzalag and Matias Augustyniak created a new graphic logo for the Spanish luxury fashion brand Loewe.
2014 - Jonathan Anderson creates the iconic Puzzle bag.
Although the Puzzle was Anderson's first design bag, it immediately earned the title of It-bag. Influencers and fashionistas on the streets of London, Paris, Milan and New York chose the trendy accessory. The bag is available in three sizes (small, medium, large), and its design is updated every season. Of course, each Puzzle bag is handmade - from dyeing the leather to stitching the details. Its innovative form, created according to the principle of origami, allows you to change the size and functionality of the product to carry it in five different ways - from a clutch to a shoulder bag.
The Puzzle bag consists of 41 pieces of leather, 9 textile parts, as well as metal hardware and zippers. It takes 524 different steps to create just one bag. All sewing work is done by hand by Loewe craftsmen who work at the factory on the outskirts of Madrid. It takes three days to produce each product. On the manufacturing lines, the estimated time to create each bag is 530 minutes (almost nine hours).
Loewe's archives inspired Anderson. Respect for the brand's heritage and Anderson's ability to see the beauty in vintage, long-forgotten items led to the creation of this iconic bag.
2015 - opening of the boutique in Miami. It was the first one in North America.
2016 - Liya Kebede stars in the brand's Autumn-Winter campaign.
2016 - Jonathan Anderson chooses fashion and publishing expert Luis Venegas to create the LOEWE book.
The creative director of the brand, Jonathan Anderson, began the process of creating a book about the history of the brand. "This is not a precious book to look at. It is a huge reference book that you can use and interact with; it documents the entire history of Loewe up to the present day, showing where the brand is today and where it can go next," said Anderson to reporters. Using the brand's archives, Spanish publisher Luis Venegas selected relevant material and published a 592-page LOEWE book that describes 170 years of the brand.
2016 - Jonathan Anderson established the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize as an award for artistic accomplishments and use of the innovations in the arts.
2018 - the launch of Loewe x Charles Rennie Mackintosh capsule collection, for the creation of which brand designer Jonathan Anderson drew inspiration from the works of the Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
2018 - a new iconic Gate bag was presented during the women's collection show. The name of the accessory is due to its details - the front strap, pulled into a knot, and the side metal fastening with a leather insert.
Due to the Spanish origin of the LOEWE brand, one would think that the name of the Fashion House and its pronunciation comes from the Castilian dialect of the Spanish language. However, the talented master of the leather goods, who gathered a team of craftsmen and united them into a company, Enrique Loewe Rossberg, is German. Therefore, the true origin of the name is German. That is, from the very beginning LOEWE was a Spanish brand with a complicated German name. Today, “lo-weh-vay” is considered the correct pronunciation of the name of the Spanish Fashion House.
We are delighted to observe the modern history and new creations of the brand and we are pleased to invite you to discover the new exclusively presented Loewe men's and women's collection on the website parkavenue.ua and in the Park Avenue boutique on the Horodotska Street, 31 (Lviv). Phone number +380 322 55 41 35.
