Latest in an ever-lengthening line of extraordinary inspirations for Spring 2012: the Dutch artist M.C. Escher. Stuart Vevers found out it was the 75th anniversary of Escher s trip to Alhambra in Granada, where the artist s sketches of tiles became the basis for some of his most famous mind-twisting games with perspective. That Spanish connection was all that was needed for Vevers to launch his new collection for Loewe.
Escher s maths-influenced motifs were reproduced in engineered prints on silk skirts and tops or cut out of leather pieces. Lizards, another of the artist s visual signatures, also appeared as prints or beaded in black on gray suede. They didn t really say Loewe-style luxury.
But with the core of Loewe s business being leather goods, Vevers challenge with a Spring collection is always going to be how to make skins lighter. He was proud of the fact that the Loewe workshops had come up with a reversible nappa that was the lightest yet. He cut it into a shorts suit or a button-through shirtdress. He also laced leather with tiny perforations, as in a skirt and matching sleeveless top.
But something about the long lean silhouette conspired against the lightness Vevers sought. Paired with the vintage-looking platform sandals, there was a vampish, film noir-ish edge to the Loewe woman this season, especially when she zipped herself into a gold leather pencil skirt with a substantial kick pleat. Un peu old-fashioned.
