Since he packed his bags and left Mulberry in London, Stuart Vevers has immersed himself fully in the culture of Loewe s base camp, Madrid: learning to speak Spanish, how to eat at midnight, how to find his way around the nightlife, all that. He s also approaching the job with full appreciation of the luxe leather-goods background of the house. "I want to discover a modern take on status. Something grown-up, elegant, and provocative," he said. Clothes-wise for Resort, he s worked up a military-cum-nautical theme that he calls "a reinvestigation of classics," slipping in remixes of archive scarf prints by Julie Verhoeven and jewelry by Katie Hillier—two of his London friends. As a bag-meister (who formerly worked at Louis Vuitton and Bottega Veneta), it s his vision of the future of covetable leather that really counts, though. "I keep saying it s not about the It bag anymore," said Vevers. "What s next is things that have authenticity and beauty." Having Loewe s craftspeople to work with is his main thrill. It s meant he s been able to design a python bag with a square base inspired by a supermarket carrier bag, come up with discreetly chic patent envelopes trimmed with fine gold chains, and play with napa leather so fine-grained that, to the naked eye, it almost looks like matte satin.
