Loewe Spring Summer 2025 Menswear: Jonathan Anderson’s ‘Radical Restraint’ Redefines Menswear Luxury

Text by Ethan Hall
Collage courtesy of Kevin Pineda

The new Spring Summer '25 menswear season for the Spanish luxury brand, Loewe, presented by Jonathan Anderson, is entitled "A radical act of restraint.” This title brings attention to his restraint, which he is portraying as a focal point of the show. This is one of the ways in which Anderson does not leave his show up for interpretation. This show was said to channel Susan Sontag's call for "erotica of art", placing importance on the sense of art than the interpretation. This ethos is what led Anderson to lay the art of his inspirations around the floor of the show. This may seem paradoxical but is in fact presenting the inspiration up front with his designs so as to remove the idea of interpretation and instead experience all the art and his designs together.

The show floor was littered with works by instrumental artists of the 20th century: Peter Hujar, Charles Ronnie Mackintosh, Carlo Scarpa, Susan Sontag and Paul Thek. It felt more like an art show than a runway show as the models rose out of a hole in the middle of the floor with feathers on headdresses covering their faces, while a soft ambient soundtrack haunted the room.

Even with his restraint, some quintessentially Anderson at Loewe sculptural garments were to be found, such as a collar that came across the neck and out above the shoulders, trapezoid cropped jackets or trapezoid shirts that fall to just above the knee. However, in comparison to previous shows where the most exotic sculptural pieces could be something such as a flower unfolding out of a top, Anderson's lean towards minimalism is evident. We do see some of Anderson's inventive and creative use of fabrics and textiles in the two silhouettes, which had a very visually stimulating texture with a sheen like stained glass and a cable knit encased under the sheen.

The silhouettes varied from thin and slimmer fit to vast and billowing silhouettes. The baggiest garment is the cable knit ¾ trousers that seem cuffed midway down the shin but then still fall closer to the ankle, which gives them a light cloudy feel to them and the way they fall. We also see some oversized suits, which are not as extreme as the cable knit trousers but still larger nonetheless. The blazer arms fall wide and long on the suits, as well as the trousers but in a clean way that leaves no mess of fabric for the eyes. The smarter looks had very slim and sharp silhouettes, however there were a lot of oversized cuffs that engulfed the hands in the season too.

Anderson has achieved the goal he set out — restraining himself to a more minimalist collection and yet it still retained the classic Anderson nuances with the sculpture and creative use of textiles that was stimulating for the senses. The collection that he delivered was a new interesting side to the Anderson Loewe universe. Overall, the presentation was very conceptual in both the creation of the clothes and the staging of the event, with much care and thought evident throughout.

In addition to the innovative designs, the show attracted high profile guests such as Jeff Goldblum, Sabrina Carpenter and Emily Ratajowski. The controversial Richard Gadd, fresh from his new series Baby Reindeer, was also in attendance, as well as the newly appointed Loewe ambassador Wang Yibo.