Kiki Georgiou reports on the Loewe show
With their hair slicked back to a low chignon, their lips a bold red and their bags clutched to their sides, Vever’s women looked on the move, busy. But there was a certain vibrancy to them and a sensuality previously unseen. Vevers was inspired by Gala Dali, that’d be Salvador’s wife, so perhaps she was rushing to get to one of her many lovers.
When you have Spain’s finest leather at your disposal it must be tempting to always reach for that over any other material. This season, Stuart Vevers not only reached for the hide he dived right in. The results were beautiful, controlled and made for one chic Señora come spring.
With their hair slicked back to a low chignon, their lips a bold red and their bags clutched to their sides, Vever’s women looked on the move, busy. But there was a certain vibrancy to them and a sensuality previously unseen. Vevers was inspired by Gala Dali, that’d be Salvador’s wife, so perhaps she was rushing to get to one of her many lovers. A brown leather pencil skirt was slit open at the front revealing the leg and paired with a brown leather tee embellished with applique flowers, felt sexy and modern – a tricky combination to get right. The use of suede was perhaps the most exciting; a blood orange trench, belted at the waist, its sleeves pushed up, was simply sublime and the colour appeared again on a high-waist skirt and hooded jacket. Vevers put on a masterclass in how to treat leather, so the suede hoodie looked light as a feather and the taupe suede trousers, slightly wide at the hem, felt surprisingly (for a pair of suede trousers) right for spring as did a taupe utilitarian shirtdress that followed. He reworked it into lace so a black shirtdress with a sheer tulle layer managed to look both sweet and racy and it never felt too heavy – an achievement with 39 leather looks – because he let skin breathe underneath it all; the back of a dress was sheer, for example.
The penultimate look was as simple and modern as a tee belted into a skirt. But this wasn’t any tee, it was a Loewe white leather laser-cut lace tee. If Vevers has so far been playing with the possibilities at a brand like Loewe, yesterday he showed he had made it his own. Hides and all.
