What happens to the ‘world’s hottest brand’ when its creative director leaves?

As the Loewe opens a new flagship in Sydney, its long-standing chief executive says the brand will continue to be as ambitious as ever - especially in a global luxury slowdown.

Former Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson takes a bow. It was announced in May that he would be moving to Dior menswear. Picture: Getty Images

Loewe, the once sleepy Spanish luxury brand, has been on a hot streak. Quite literally. This month it was named the ‘world’s hottest brand’ by the tech and shopping platform Lyst in its Index for Q1, bumping Miu Miu from the spot. According to the platform, searches for the brand spiked 38 per cent following the announcement in March that creative director Jonathan Anderson was leaving the brand after an eleven year stint. Anderson’s move to Dior joins a shakeup of creative directors across the industry. Part of the interest was shoppers wanting to get a final piece of Anderson’s designs for the house.

A silhouette changing look from Loewe. Picture. Getty Images

Pascale Lepoivre, chief executive of Loewe.

Anderson, 40, has been credited with not only transforming the fortunes of Loewe - which was first established in 1846- but infusing it with the sort of cultural cache that few luxury brands can truly manage. This included campaigns with the likes of Dame Maggie Smith, a prize that celebrates craft, buzzy collections that created entirely new silhouettes and of course that most desired luxury MO, an ‘It bag’ in the Puzzle. According to Morgan Stanley estimates, sales under Anderson’s tenure grew from 230 million Euros in 2014 to 1.07 billion Euros in 2024.

Pascale Lepoivre, chief executive of Loewe since 2016, who acknowledged at the time of Anderson’s departure that he had taken the brand to “new heights with international recognition,” says the brand will continue to be ambitious in its next chapter.

“We have taken Loewe’s almost 180 year savoir faire in leather, and created our singular mix of authentic craft, creativity and playfulness, which people around the world relate to and find fun. Our identity isn’t about a single aesthetic or logo, nor does it fluctuate with trends or collaborations,” she says.

The new Loewe flagship takes cues from its global Casa Loewe concept and features furnishings such as Berin club chairs and Gerrit Thomas Rietveld’s Utrecht armchairs.

This ambition includes a new flagship store in Sydney. Opening in Sydney Westfield this week, for the first time it will hold the brand’s full offering across menswear and women’s, as well as jewellery, home scents and pieces from its most recent art and craft exhibitions including Mexican artist Andrés Arna’s Loewe Foundation Craft prizewinning piece, I Only Know What I have Seen(2023). On-the-rise Australian actor Sophie Wilde meanwhile is the face of the brand’s new holiday-focused Loewe Paula’s Ibiza capsule collection.

Australian actor Sophie Wilde is one of the faces of Loewe's new Loewe Paula's Ibiza campaign.

Investing in a global luxury slowdown is a priority for Lepoivre. Not only in new stores in the right places, but in the way the brand positions itself. This has included a campaign starring Schitt’s Creek actor Dan Levy and Aubrey Plaza that made light of people’s difficulty in pronouncing the brand’s name (by the way, low-eh-veh) as well as its first brand exhibition in Shanghai in 2024, taking it to Tokyo last month. In recent months it has extended its key pillars, such as new lightweight iterations of the Puzzle bag.

The connection with craft is something that Lepoivre sees as foundational for the brand, pointing to collaborations with Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli, whose illustration the brand interpreted into embroidery and intarsia on its bags ,and Loewe’s artist collaborations for the renowned international furniture fair Salone del Mobile in Milan, as examples.

“Craft is all about the joy of making things with your hands. We started off as a collective of leather workers and are completely obsessed with creating and inventing things, whether objects or clothes, with a noted focus on those made by hand,” she says.

Pieces on display as part of Loewe's presentation at Salone di Mobile in Milan earlier this year.

The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize is something Lepoivre is particularly proud of, in part because it helps to preserve or modernise traditional technique which might otherwise be lost. One such example is a finalist in this year’s prize, Margaret Rarru Garrawurra, whose woven basket was made using one of the oldest and most significant forms of Australian Indigenous culture.

Lepoivre believes Loewe can still grow, despite the headwinds surrounding luxury. Loewe’s parent group, luxury conglomerate LVMH, recently posted a 5 per cent drop across its fashion and leather goods business in Q1.

“We still have room to grow in many of our markets, being one of the incumbent brands taking market share, as well as expanding our offer and bringing all categories to their full potential,” says Lepoivre. “However, we are, of course, not immune to the macro environment. To continue building our brand awareness, it is important for us to maintain strong brand investment. At the same time, we are more prudent and agile: doing less in more impactful ways.”

New creative directors of Loewe, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who founded the American label Proenza Schouler. Picture: Jeff Henrikson

Australia, she says, is an interesting market for the brand.

“When we first arrived [in 2016] we were seen more as a disruptor, and focused on becoming known through playful and unexpected activities. Now, we are much more established with a presence in key cities: Westfield in Sydney, as well as Chadstone and Collins St in Melbourne – to name a few,” she says.

Anderson is a hard act to follow. However Lepoivre is confident in the appointment of American designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who founded the brand Proenza Schouler in 2002.

“Their work over the past two decades has played an instrumental role in reshaping modern fashion while cultivating an ongoing dialogue with contemporary culture, championing a design practice rooted in a rigorous exploration of craft,” she says.

Lepoivre is quick to point out that these qualities align with the values of Loewe- past and future.