Stuart Vevers Spring Loewe collection really needs to be seen up close. What he s doing at the Spanish leather-goods house is imbued with the kind of luxury that only fully reveals itself when touched: the butter-soft, wafer-thin suede elephant gray trench ("suede that s like velvet," as Vevers puts it); the malleable matteness of an ostrich zip-front skirt, or the pristine white softness of the classic "Amazone" tote bag he s retrieved from the archive. And there s much more. A self-confessed detail fanatic, Vevers, who moved from London to company headquarters in Madrid earlier this year, says he s been so obsessed with orchestrating bags, clothes, shoes, and jewelry that he s only had one day off a month.
Vevers came up with a general styling theme for Spring, loosely pegged on "Chris von Wangenheim photos, Princess Stephanie of Monaco, and a touch of Memphis design," but, he points out, "the real inspiration is Loewe itself." In the clothes, Vevers played with military-cum-naval themes and then used the symbols: brass buttons as handbag chains and bracelets, ropes as gold belts and cuffs, Plexiglas anchors for pendants. Worked in there, too, was a perfectly on-trend outbreak of dots and spots: first on a perforated, tobacco-colored cotton dress, and then more prolifically on polka-dot bag appliqués or paint splashes on suede. "What I like," said Vevers, "is how classic and sexy are good bedfellows. I thought there was no point in joining a proper house without doing it properly and respecting the integrity of what it is."
