Gossip is always currency during fashion week, but this season in Paris insider whisperings hit fever pitch. Before the spring/summer 25 shows began, designer musical chairs were on everyone’s lips. There were debuts (notably, Alessandro Michele’s Valentino show), recent announcements ( Sarah Burton will be going to Givenchy) and supposedly imminent news (is Pierpaolo Piccioli going to Fendi? It depends who you spoke to last).
All of it was over-analysed over countless martinis in the dark lair that is the Hotel Costes bar. Any conversations about industry powerhouses included Jonathan Anderson , the jewel in LVMH’s crown and the man who has transformed Spanish label Loewe into a billion-pound behemoth. This season marked his decade anniversary at the house, which rather than overtly celebrate, he decided to approach with stylish restraint.
Ironically, in spite of the chatter around him, his SS25 season attempted to answer the question: what happens when one takes all the noise away? He presented his vision in the round, in a bleached white space across the moat at the Château de Vincennes. In the centre stood a tiny, centrally placed Tracey Emin bird sculpture, and around it Anderson proved, again, that the formula he has crafted over 10 years at the company is exceptionally efficient and a model for other leading brands. He is forensic in his approach.
Take this season’s suits, with their morphed, oversize sleeve-jackets and trousers that ballooned on the legs and.