Not many people expect to find Antonio Banderas in Tokyo. But there he is, or at least there he is on a screen, in ‘Crafted World’, an exhibition mounted by Loewe in Japan to tell the fashion house’s story of craft. The notion of a Spanish leather company owned by a French luxury conglomerate putting on a show in East Asia is not as far-fetched as it might seem. Loewe first expanded to Japan in 1973, opening a concession in Nihombashi Mitsukoshi in Tokyo, the country’s first department store. From a brand perspective, there’s history here.
A black wool coat with carved walnut collar, Loewe autumn/winter 2024. Photo: Loewe
Opening only two weeks after the announcement of the departure of creative director Jonathan Anderson, this exhibition can be seen as a celebration of his 10 years at Loewe, and it certainly includes what might be called his greatest hits. But there is more to it than that. One of Anderson’s triumphs at Loewe was to foreground the importance of craft to everything the house does. Partly this expressed itself through virtuosic, even surreal clothes – a coat with a walnut collar carved to look like fur, for instance; partly it was through the pushing of the Loewe Foundation to support craft through the Loewe Craft Prize. There are works from the craft prize in the exhibition (as ever with Loewe, it’s never just about fashion): a pot by the Scottish ceramicist Jennifer Lee or a vase by the Chinese ceramicist Bin Lu speak to the connection between technique and beauty. These objects are all beautiful to contemplate but their inclusion along with such items as the Kama iron kettles made by the Ōnishi family – made using the same techniques for the past 400 years – bespeaks a worldview in which consideration is privileged over surface and the shape of an object is informed as much by the work that goes into it as any preconceived idea of what someone may want to look at.
A selection of Loewe’s Salone del Mobile exhibits. Photo: Loewe
Yet also running through this exhibition is what might be called pure art. Anderson and his team at Loewe managed to create that rare thing: a fashion brand that had a genuine relationship with artists. Loewe’s work with Anthea Hamilton to create the costumes for her performance work The Squash (2018) at Tate Britain, or jewellery designed by Lynda Benglis using strikingly similar forms to her sculptures, revealed a way of working that allowed art and fashion to speak for themselves without diminishing either. If this all sounds too serious there is also an opportunity for visitors to cover a staircase with stickers of Loewe signatures – arum lilies, elephants, Studio Ghibli-style mushrooms (Ghibli has also partnered with Loewe in recent years). Play is just as much a part of Loewe’s world as serious fashion.
A selection of Loewe’s greatest fashion hits. Photo: Loewe
The most striking thing about the exhibition is the ‘crafted world’ that Loewe has created. This is most apparent in the show’s early rooms, in which different designers’ visions of what the fashion house could be begin to take over the world. The cooly modern chess set designed by artist Vicente Vela and architect Javier Carvajal in 1960 seems to embody a forward-facing confidence that expresses a chic that is distinct from swinging London and a sensibility that is entirely international in its style. In 1975 Loewe released a handbag called the Amazona, an item designed to embody female strength and independence. That’s where Banderas comes in, thanks to his role in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). Pedro Almodóvar, of course, put women at the centre of his films. Many viewers had never seen such strong, defiant female characters before. Almodóvar was presenting a new version of Spain on the screen, and possibly a new kind of woman – the sort who needed a brand-new bag in which to keep anything from gazpacho to a gun. In fact, the sort of woman who could really use an Amazona bag. Looked at through a certain lens, a fashion house isn’t just dressing a client but shaping the world. That’s quite the craft.
‘Crafted World’ is at 6-35-6 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo, until 11 May.