LOEWE presents the men's spring/summer 2019 collection designed by Jonathan Anderson. For the imagery, photographed by Manuel Braun, the LOEWE headquarters on Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris is transformed into a playground and adorned with candy-striped ribbon and strewn with rainbow pom-poms. The second collaboration with American art photographer, Duane Michals, takes center stage at Casa Gallardo, a private home in Madrid, as eleven male protagonists perform in various states of dress (and undress). Michals tells an absurd narrative through handwritten titles – his spontaneous imagery conjuring up a variety show of timeless domestic heroes.
Telling intimate stories of bohemian life, the collection itself flits across time and space to illicit a boyish study of dressing up - where childhood memories haze with botanical and geometric motifs like sea urchins and stained glass, cowri shells and whelks, bandanas, and mythological lions. In collaboration with Disney, the big-eared elephant Dumbo (1941) flies straight on 'til morning, and an iconographic study of historical LOEWE branding appears as colonial prints and broderie anglaise.
Period pieces are modernised -from a suede hussar jacket to sackcloth shorts- whilst raw, stone-washed denim, fouta towel cotton and corduroy evoke a weathered richness. Matching separates in relaxed shapes make cool summer suits in watermelon-striped knit, glazed python, and ombre inkblot linen. The presentation also previews two bags from the new 'EYE LOEWE NATURE' outdoor collection to be launched in January 2019: a backpack and a tote in canvas featuring branded leather panelling and bonded jacquard patches by M/M Paris.
Duane Michals' photographic portfolio (with titles hand-illustrated by the artist) styled by Benjamin Bruno is immortalized in a hardcover photo book designed by M/M Paris and printed in a limited edition of 1,200 hand-numbered copies.
