JW ANDERSON

“During my experience at Prada, I learnt one important piece of advice that has stayed with me throughout my career: ‘Don’t ever compromise.’ I get a lot of inspiration from the arts, from places like Kettle’s Yard house and art gallery in Cambridge, the V&A Museum and random things around London. Sometimes it’s a texture or a building’s colour that strikes my attention,” reveals Jonathan Anderson, who launched his own menswear collection in 2008 with his eponymous label JW Anderson. Two years later he expanded into womenswear, and since 2013 his aesthetic vision has brought him further success as creative director of Spanish luxury house Loewe. A graduate of the London College of Fashion, Anderson is also an active supporter of artisan specialisms, having established the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2016 – the first international award for contemporary craftspeople. Today, JW Anderson is maturing and becoming more refined without “losing that sense of cultural agitator that’s inherent in the brand’s DNA. It’s more polished but still a bit off at the same time,” says the designer, who is well known for his outstanding collaborations with fashion labels and retailers. He explains: “Uniqlo has been, and still is, an incredible experience. I’ve learnt the process of taking luxury and making it more democratic. Converse has also been great for the freedom they’ve given me to translate their classic shapes into shoes that feel very JW Anderson.”