2023 NEIMAN MARCUS AWARDS
in with your design ethos? J.A.:
It comes down to this idea of past, present, future. I was going into a brand that was about the past, when I went into the brand, it was ultimately about the present. And then we had to kind of work out what the future of this brand was going to be. Meisel's image of the beach had been influenced by Alex Katz's painting of the beach. So you had the painter who paints the picture, the photographer takes a photograph, and then 20 years later, this image is presented as new ultimately. In a weird way, that's what fashion is about — a cycle that continually goes around and improves itself, and I wanted to show that work in progress.
The brand is about storytelling. There is a complex language that is being built, but ultimately it is about bringing people on the journey with either something they expect or something they don't expect. I think that's what's nice about Loewe — you cannot pigeonhole it.
I always felt like my job was to put a ready-to-wear language into a leather house, because it didn't really have a clothing archive, although obviously it had the period when Karl Lagerfeld had done stuff, when Giorgio Armani had done stuff. There was also Narciso Rodriguez and Stuart Vevers. But there was not a cohesive fashion language, other than during the '70s, which was suede.
WWD: You’ve also played up craftsmanship, and modern craft since the get go. How has the customer responded? J.A.:
We see it in the sales. When I first joined and I thought of Spain, I always thought of baskets weirdly. I think it's just because when I went on holiday as a kid you always saw someone with a basket and espadrilles in a cliche way. But you know baskets represent one of our biggest selling departments, whether it's leather basket, baskets made from straw. We make baskets in about seven different countries, from Africa to Madagascar to Spain, obviously to Italy. We've done baskets in India. And what is interesting is I think the consumer wants to see something which is about the physicality, the make. Who would have thought a luxury brand per se could sell a raffia basket?
WWD: It feels like your tenure at Loewe can be divided into clear chapters. Did you deliberately map it out that way? J.A.:
I think there's definitely Loewe before the pandemic and Loewe after the pandemic. I think the pandemic changed me. I think it made me reset a bit. I feel like the stakes went higher and I think that we became more focused ultimately. I think the pandemic helped me to slow down a bit, to sharpen my sword.
WWD: You seemed to relish your collections-in-a-box during the pandemic, and equally relish the return to IRL fashion shows. How do you account for that? J.A.:
I realized I was in a bit of a pattern. And because the pattern had been broken [by the pandemic] and I had to focus on how to tell the story through a box, it then ultimately gave me the excitement to do a show again. Then when we had that show, which was the first show where the models emerged from underneath the floorboards, and the collection was based on the Italian painter Pontormo. I felt like I had found this idea that if you're going to put something on the runway, then it has to count.
WWD: How far in advance do you plan your collections? J.A.:
Most of the collections that we do usually are initiated about nine to 10 months in advance. I'm not very good at working last-minute, and I find it really difficult to be able to build a narrative ultimately. I don't mind having an extra two looks, but I can't deal when there's too much more.
WWD: Your latest chapter has some surreal elements, and a lot of bluntness. Tell me about that? J.A.:
My biggest fear as a designer is to be known for one thing. Also I think I would be so bored. After the pandemic, we went through a renaissance somehow, which was the Pontormo collection, which then evolved into something which was more surrealistic. And since the last show that we had done with the [anthurium] flower. I feel like everything in my mind has become more reduced and more blunt. Less-is-more has suddenly become more exciting to me recently, even in my own brand. I wanted to kind of boil it down because I felt like there was so much happening in fashion right now.
I feel like a lot of fashion recently was about the overall styling of a show – where you have a hat and a coat and a thing and a shoe and bag and a sock. To have the confidence to take things away, I think that's where we are going now – where things are becoming more elevated, more graphic, more in focus. I feel like fashion is
heading towards a period with a tighter vision ultimately.
WWD: You seem very implicated in the retail experience, choosing artworks, furnishings, etc. What kind of experience are you trying to create? J.A.:
I'm very lucky to be able to have an in-house architect Paula [Aza Custodio]. Our stores are a reflection of the city they're in, so each one varies. You're walking into a curated space that is not conventionally luxury, ultimately. It's this balancing act of elevating the product.
All the furniture, the ceramics, the artworks, all these things are things I have sourced with Paula and with Pascal [Lepoivre, Loewe's chief executive officer]. And each store is different, each city has a different vibe, like New York is very different to L.A., and L.A. is very different to Miami. Each store has its own vocabulary, because I don't like a cookie cutter, otherwise you're trapped within this one vibe.
WWD: What has been your proudest achievements at Loewe so far? J.A.:
People still are starting to respect the brand, and I'm hoping more people know how to pronounce the name. I think my biggest achievement is I feel like we are still relevant. I think this is sometimes very difficult. You know, I think some people are so used to what's next, what's next.
Also setting up the Loewe Craft Prize. It is a huge undertaking and a massive investment into craft. I hope it's an important legacy that I have put into the brand – not just for the last 10 years, but for the future of this brand Loewe.
When you come into a heritage brand, it's older than all of us. Loewe started in 1846. So I think it is important that you build foundations that are long term… because I think the brand has to go on for another 100 years.
The job of a creative director today is to bring the DNA of the brand to the forefront and make it relevant for the period – not to alter the actual the DNA of the brand itself.
WWD: You’re not afraid to take risks on the runway, with metal clothing, broken-egg shoes, and car dresses. What’s the craziest thing you’ve made you thought would never sell and did like hotcakes?
J.A.: I would never have thought people would buy shoes that had a broken egg for a heel, or balloons on them or all the kinds of weird and wonderful things we have done. It is surprising the appetite out there for clothing that is unique. To have a balloon-heeled shoe be sold out is kind of crazy. But this is what's amazing about fashion today: People have the courage to experiment. Sometimes I feel like big brands get too conservative and underestimate the consumer. Obviously, we haven't sold any trousers with grass growing on them, but you never know?