“Everything important that I have done can be put into a little suitcase," said Duchamp in 1952.?Inspired by the same artful spirit, at Loewe, Jonathan Anderson decided to ship across the world a series of boxes containing the things that inspired him, the details that made the process of creating so special and mini iterations of his final looks. Almost mirroring Duchamp's desire to display his works outside the museum and gallery system, Anderson, who was evidently missing a physical experience, however, didn’t want to go back to the act of the fashion show and neither create something digitally, thus deciding to translate his entire creative process into a sensorial experience, from the initial inspirations to the show setting.

He presented both his menswear spring summer 2021 collections and womenswear pre-collections altogether.?“The approach for this mens collection was taking one approach and one idea and making it into one look,” stated the designer in his explanatory videos of the collection on Instagram.?Volume has always been a big part of Anderson’s work and this season it was key as curves, swings and loops that skew the hard edge, took centre stage.

A standout piece – which perfectly encapsulated the Spanish brand’s mastery of leather craft – was the leather torso piece created in collaboration with Galician basketweave artist Idoia Cuesta.?Cuesta, who specialises in traditional Galician weaving and knotting techniques, had previously collaborated with the brand on the spiral bucket bag presented at last year’s objet d’art exhibit at Milan’s Salone del Mobile, and applied the same technique to the top, managing to create an art piece which was firm yet flexible.?

The collaboration with Cuesta wasn’t the only one present this season as the brand decided to present all of Anderson’s collaborations for the brand through a layering of contents which followed an hourly agenda on Instagram, from morning to evening, for 24 hours.?Of note was the collaboration with composer Adam Bainbridge aka Kindness, who also produced the soundtrack present in the seven-inch vinyl present in the box, as well as the collaboration with papercraft artist Shin Tanaka, who created the paper patterns present in the box.?

Similarly, Anderson’s women’s pre-collection for Loewe followed a similar pattern. Likewise celebrating the work process on the mannequin, shapes on silhouettes were gathered, folded, tied, wired, wrapped, draped – in a kooky, 1960s-inspired Space-age manner.

Overall, the show-in-a-box experience was successful as it managed to transport us and the audience into Anderson’s and Loewe’s masterfully cultivated world.