Imagine a coat with the flyaway character of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” a slipdress that shudders like a bowl of lemon Jell-O, or a shearling jacket sculpted like a prize-winning poodle?
In a very short time, Loewe’s creative duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have established a fresh new point of view for the Spanish house — joyous, young and zesty.
They are also exploring fascinating new angles on luxury itself: unserious, playful and even weird at times.
For their humdinger of a sophomore show, they decided to lean into craft, the raison d’être crystalized by their predecessor Jonathan Anderson, and enshrined in the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, for which McCollough and Hernandez will serve as jurors for the first time in 2026.
So we were looking at inflatable channels added to outerwear, scarves and gingham skirts worn under woolen coats; the latest possibilities for a boudoir-inspired staple when latex is cast in a 3D-printed mold, and what’s possible with animal fluff when you take your shaggy coat to a top Parisian dog groomer.
Guests at the show midday Friday were jolted with pounding techno, bouncy clothes of all kinds and searing color, including lots of taxi-cab yellow, from the floorboards of the big-box runway venue to leather macs with inflatable pocket flaps, hoods and inner channels.
During a preview, McCollough and Hernandez name-checked artist Cosima von Bonin as a key inspiration, which explained the gingham accents, the twee hand-painted floral prints and the stuffed sea creatures and canines sharing the front row with the likes of Sissy Spacek, Julia Garner and Lil Yachty. (A capsule collection with von Bonin is in the pipeline.)
They also articulated a point of view on craft distinct from many other designers, who often seek to exalt irregularities. A case in point: The smoothly sculpted leather jackets that heightened the scuba feeling of their debut spring collection were reprised for fall as longer hooded styles.
“They were skived down to feather-thin leather and fused so that they almost looked like they were molded in a car factory,” McCollough said. “To us, it’s almost like the highest level of craft when you erase the hand itself.”
The designers carried over the sporty feeling of their debut via rubbery kitten heels with the look of swim shoes, and visor-like sunglasses anchored to the head with a beefy strap. Their deep love of American sportswear could still be felt in the corduroy jeans — actually more shearling carved into wide-wale wonders.
Kudos to the duo for plying energy galore — and healthy helpings of fun — into their reboot of this LVMH brand, which is having a double-header this week, opening its second Casa Loewe emporium in Paris on the Rue Saint-Honoré. The store, pulsing with color and craft, keeps the story going.
