‘I think we live in a paradise. This is a Garden of Eden. Really. It is. It might be the only paradise we’ll ever know. And it’s just so beautiful. And you feel you want to paint it.’ Albert York
NOTES AND KEY IDEAS FROM THE LOEWE COLLECTION :
A study on provenance and whether it is relevant today. An outsider’s view, looking in, set against the backdrop of Albert York’s small yet intense paintings.
The tropes of class and wealth turned on their head, through LOEWE’s distinctive lens: at once with bluntness and abstraction. The aplomb of an Etonian morning suit; the beloved dog in mosaic on a ring, or on an entire dress; wooden carvings that turn into coat collars; a floral tapestry from the drawing room beaded onto dresses or printed onto trousers; a profusion of caviar beading not only on clothing, but also on biker boots and Squeeze bags.
In exploring ideas of tailoring and couture —both languages of bespoke and prerogative, one masculine and the other feminine— get mixed. Faultless jackets and flowing slacks; neckties and sculptural short dresses; straight cuts and draping. To heighten the juxtaposition of hard and soft lines, the ordre de passage opens with flou. As a zero degree of dressing, it is interspersed with little pieces made from boxer shorts.
A quintessentially LOEWE mindscape in which leather and the world around it matter: draped nappa blousons, leather aviator jackets, the Flamenco Purse in a new large size, and further drapes. Ostrich as a trompe l’oeil hyper real print. Buckles as decoration.
Prints have a material quality: they create illusions of other materials, or represent checks that melt. Tartans are also rendered in mille feuille sliced chiffon, gaining further 3D materiality.
Clothing with presence, that celebrates being in the moment and Albert York’s sentiment that the real paradise is the one we inhabit - and the privilege that being alive represents.
