The Christian Dior information is out. Northern Irish designer, Jonathan Anderson was introduced because the artistic director of the French model in its entirety this week. He’d beforehand been confirmed as chief designer of the menswear wing and what the style business thought it already knew – that he’d be heading up womenswear too – was lastly introduced after months of hypothesis.
His tenure at Loewe was a stealth masterclass in model constructing. From sleepy Spanish luxurious bag maker to glazed tile, arthouse style model, Anderson put his total workaholic self into that position. His 11 years there noticed the ‘Puzzle’ bag grow to be a cult model, together with numerous different hits just like the Flamenco clutch and the Paula’s Ibiza raffia luggage. Moreover he created a ready-to-wear that was extensively purchased and worn, which is a big deal for a model that was beforehand solely identified for its luggage.
The Loewe Paula’s Ibiza assortment
The curation of the Loewe collections felt extraordinarily private to Anderson and due to this fact there was at all times one thing of a crossover together with his namesake model, JW Anderson. Based in 2008, the JW Anderson label felt just like the playful and cheaper brother to Loewe and it was typically troublesome to see the place the 2 separated. Lots of the product produced for one might have been bought by the opposite. It meant double Anderson for his rising legion of admirers.
Anderson stepping away from Loewe is a big alternative for the JWA model – if his time permits. The designer is at present teasing ‘New Beginnings July 2025 #comingsoon’ on his private Instagram channel to his 1.3m followers. Slides of merchandise in addition to random finds and artwork items give a tantalising glimpse of what’s to return.
The brand new belted model of the Loewe Puzzle
Anderson has been on one thing of a sabbatical – in style phrases –since leaving Loewe in March and designing the Dior menswear (having formally taken on that position in April), giving him a while to take a position and take into consideration his JW Anderson model and its future.
Anderson understood the muse a £100 brand T-shirt offers a model from the beginning, with the recognisable JW Anchor quick changing into a fundamental in style followers’ wardrobes. Or, the easy white Nineteen Seventies model signature JWA geometric puller on knitwear for the IYKYK crowd.
Luxurious customers are buying and selling down in pricing classes, and JW Anderson, particularly with luggage priced round £500-£1,000, has the potential to develop, given the proper funding and visibility. The style-led Coach-level buyer, who continues to be proving resilient, might justify the slight value leap to commerce as much as JWA and the baggage benefit from not being in every single place. This can be a model with the cool issue. The JWA ‘Idler’ and ‘Nook’ luggage might simply grow to be the following Puzzle, the designs are adequate, given the publicity.
The JW Anderson Idler bag
Loewe at present has 6.5m Instagram followers in comparison with 1.7m for the JW Anderson official account. Anderson is but to grow to be a family title however the Dior place might change that.
For a artistic like Anderson, Dior is extra of a straight jacket – or Bar Jacket? – and inflexible in its home codes. Whereas we all know Anderson will pour himself into the model, he received’t fairly have the liberty he did at Loewe. The dimensions is gigantic, in order that leaves his eponymous model for all of the artwork, enjoyable and experiment, hopefully.
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler have taken over at Loewe
The subsequent iteration of Loewe might be designed by American designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, founders of New York-based label Proenza Schouler. Loewe is at present operating a 10-years anniversary advertising and marketing marketing campaign for the Puzzle bag, which can assist with the transition and continuity in product. The People will hopefully construct on Anderson’s basis moderately than execute an entire overhaul.
Gen Z luxurious consumers love Loewe, as Liberty Managing Director, Retail Sarah Coonanrecently knowledgeable the viewers at TheIndustry.style LIVE, Elevating the Submit Buy Expertise, held in London on 23 April. JW Anderson has an identical demographic of shopper however Loewe additionally has enchantment throughout all age teams (that is the model that put the late Dame Maggie Smith in its marketing campaign in any case) so Anderson need to broaden the enchantment of his namesake model.
He could need to do one thing to enchantment to a extra mature buyer, which is the other problem most manufacturers have. It could possibly be the case that many older customers are unaware of the model they usually haven’t seen the product (in the event that they did, they’d discover a lot to love). Luxurious style patrons might properly look to JW Anderson, particularly if the brand new designers at Loewe don’t have the identical enchantment or aesthetic.
Jonathan Anderson
It is price taking into consideration, nonetheless, that every one of those manufacturers – Loewe, JW Anderson and Dior – are owned by the French conglomerate LVMH. The group will need to be certain that it doesn’t make the identical mistake it made with Marc Jacobs, who additionally had the artistic mixture of designing for a big LVMH home (Louis Vuitton) and his eponymous model, which went onto be diluted with diffusion traces and struggled to make a revenue. There have been moments when LVMH actively tried to dump the Marc Jacobs model.
Dior might be LVMH’s precedence, nevertheless it might have three very distinct manufacturers interesting to totally different demographics. Whereas Dior may have the funding and be the primary focus, it will be a disgrace to waste the momentum that might simply switch from Loewe to JW Anderson if properly managed. A designer by no means desires to neglect their very own title.
Predominant picture: JW Anderson Idler Bag @jw_anderson
