Loewe SS27: Playfully Formal, Formally Playful

Today’s Loewe show venue was an amphitheater of white cotton stretched taut like a blank canvas. It’s been 18 months since Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez took over as creative directors at the brand, and to date their collections have felt fresh and experimental, as they harness Loewe’s 180 years of craft heritage into modern forms.

What McCollough and Hernandez enjoy, the Spring-Summer 2027 collection demonstrated, is combining the formal and the playful. Over and over, guests saw this dynamic unfold. There was a long floral dress that might verge on tradwife attire if not for a twist that exposes the model’s midriff. A man wore familiar office attire — shirt, tie, grey slacks — but for a structured aquamarine sweatshirt that zipped at the back. Another looked like an office worker who had forgotten his trousers: a blue parka, shirt, tie, and bare legs.  

The clash of sportswear and white-collar dress codes is fertile ground for the designers, and you can see this collection appealing to the intellectual, artistic type dressing for their creative job. Still, it’s an idea that found its clearest expression in the more simple looks.  Look one – a checked blazer, a zip jacket and a skirt gathered above the knee – contained the right balance of formality and fun.