Fashion Week Report: Loewe FW23

Spanish-based fashion brand Loewe, has become one of the world’s leading designers for their use of art-form clothing, clever design elements, illusions, and colours. Their latest collection for Fall 2023, is no exception to their history. This seasons collection is designed to trick your mind and leave you confused, which in tow makes them worth talking about.
The play on perception for Loewes’s latest show is a major talking point, it embodies a hyperrealism approach which is becoming more popular with the constant increase of high-resolution technology becoming increasingly available. The creation of hyperrealism styles is a true skill that many do not have. However Loewes designer Jonathan Anderson, has what it takes to push his collection into the illusional bracket that leaves the viewers questioning. How is that possible? Or what is it?
What has set Jonathan Anderson’s latest collection apart from the crowd was the use of illusions and textures to create a well-rounded balance through the collection. Through this he created different depths, emotions, and perceptions of the clothing, which creates questions. It goes into a more philosophical approach to clothing, what is the clothing? how does it work? Is it practical? Is that cosy jumper really cosy or not?
Everything in scenery also played a significant role in how well each illusion looks. The catwalk walls, floor, and seating were a glossy white all around. Finely paired with giant cubes of textured colours scattered throughout, they looked like they creatively spawned throughout the runway.

And now, the designs…
Starting off with the footwear, the boots that complimented the majority of outfits and created questions on everybody’s minds. Are these slouchy boots or are these models leather trousers around their ankles? Well, the answer is both! Each leg has wide, slouchy boots made of leather with the features of trousers, waistlines with pockets, belt loops and buttons. The style is more noticeable under the shorter designs but when paired with some long and flowing creations it looks as if the model's trousers have fallen down on the catwalk.

The second serious illusion is the collections of dresses and jackets created in oversized white fabric dresses expertly printed with a digital illusion that makes each dress look fitted with a white halo surrounding it, or a glitch in the system. An arrangement of glitched and stretched out florals add the illusion that the dress is moving faster than the eyes can see, like a flash of light, but in reality, it is moving at a normal pace to the human eye.

Some prints look like crinkled cardigans in a comforting material, oversized with extra materials which are crinkling up. However it is a digital print on a form fitting material to look as if the cardigan has been worn and pushed about to be battered and wrinkled.

Next up is the ‘Polly Pocket’ doll clothing, it creates the illusion of snap fit clothing styles of rubber clothing that is popular among dolls, each one is meticulously designed to create little shadows or creases. Each part of the fits also has truly little movement to portray stiff and ‘fake doll’ style clothing. They all look expertly manufactured to fit to the dolls shape and the dolls shape only.

Finally, the long sheet style dress which represents a sheet, as if the model has just woken up and wrapped herself in a sheet. A gold shiny ball creates an illusionary effect to look as if it Is floating and helping the array of fabric stay together to create a goddess style toga.

We look forward to seeing what Jonathan Anderson for Loewe will create next to blow our imaginations similar to his Fall 2023 collection!

	Amy Davidson
	Amy Davidson is a newly graduated textiles designer from Scotland, who loves to travel, the colour orange and hairbands in as many colours and prints as she could possibly get her hands on. Her favourite style of print to work with is anything that’s bold, colourful, and tropical!