And that, at Loewe, is okay

Or, perhaps, we should say, all that glistens… After all, Jonathan Anderson might have been making a point about water. The show was set with a fountain of sort in the middle of the oblong runway. In fact, for most of us watching the livestream, we had to sit through what appeared to be a scene from a camera placed in the water feature of the set. What was witnessed for close to an hour before the show eventually started was, for the most part (other than the arrival of guests), water dripping at the viewer, blurring the woody trunks that sat above the pool. As it turned out, the strange, almost ghostly forms that could well be kin of Treebeard, the “shepherd of trees” of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, were, in fact, the sculptures of the American artist Lynda Benglis. Yet it was not the shapes and textures of Ms Benglis’s work that Jonathan Anderson sort to emulate. Rather, it was the water droplets from the installation in middle of the show that was heard than seen.

So what was shown, at least on first sight, were glittery clothes. Again, we should correct ourselves, glistening. The pieces were indeed far from blessed with the kind of sparkly excess that one would usually associate with Dolce and Gabbana. These were more like celestial twinkle. How the shimmer is achieved we weren’t able to tell (yet). They were, dare we say, quite subtle. But what isn’t is the silhouette. They were not exaggerated as in being voluminous or distended, but they were exaggerated by how laundry-galah (pole) linear they were. Do men want to look this lean, this unable to fill the garments, like gangly teens? Yet the clothes largely appeared that way throughout. Mr Anderson told the press this was a “one-silhouette show”.

That comment would no doubt rile the woke brigade. But, Mr Anderson was dead serious about the leanness. The models would be euphemistically considered lanky. Still, to achieve this condensed effect, like the thinnest san-serif capital ‘I’, Mr Anderson did not pull in the shoulders or deflate the sleeves. In fact, the clothes did not look tight, and the models did not appear shrink-wrapped. What was done to achieve the gangly effect was to wear the trousers high up the waist, seemingly above the bellybutton. And not to truncate the important visual elongation, the models wore no belt. The pants were cut straight at the hips and remained so through the thighs, and then allowed to go full from around the knee, pooling at the feet. There was, to us, something alluringly British indie band about the look.

A Loewe show would not be the same without some of Mr Anderson’s offbeat touches. To ensure that there were weird pieces to talk about and for attendees to post, he added what looked like a trio of tops (or where they be outers?) pretending to be shopping bags. Or, those clothes rural boys in Thailand (and her neighbours) with a penchant for fashion would make—using household or found objects—and wear, and share on social media. And there is the union suit, snugly capped at the deltoids and somewhat loose at the bodice, that would score with those who have a very advanced sense of work wear. But for most guys, the shirts with the white contrast collars will be adequately subversive, especially when the long-sleeved garment beautifully glistens. Now, we got that right.

Screen shot (top): Loewe/Youtube. Photos: gorunway.com