This Christmas, LOEWE presents a collection inspired by the work of legendary British textile designer, artist, and writer William Morris (1834 – 1896). LOEWE obtained special access to the Morris & Co archives from which Creative Director Jonathan Anderson selected original prints featured on a wide range of menswear and womenswear pieces
Strawberry Thief, Forest, Acanthus and Honeysuckle, four striking prints conceived between 1874 and 1883 for wallpaper or fabrics, were selected by Anderson and placed by LOEWE’s creative team on jackets, T-shirts and suits as well as on some of the firm’s most popular accessories: the Puzzle and Hammock bags. Other pieces featuring the prints are scarves, brooches and backpacks.
Morris is considered one of the main contributors of the Arts & Crafts movement, which emerged in response to the concern of a group of architects, designers and artists over the precariousness of traditional British craftsmanship when faced with the unstoppable industrialisation of society. His defence of handmade pieces over those that were mechanically produced, was due to aesthetic as well as ideological reasons.
‘William Morris fundamentally changed the way we look at applied craft, making him one of the most important designers of the last 200 years,’ Anderson explains. This capsule collection reinterprets classic 19th century prints inspired by nature in combination with surprising and irreverent elements used in punk aesthetics. This can be seen in the recurring bright orange details and in the bleached denim pieces whose abstract pattern references the classic vocabulary Morris used, but in an innovative and contemporary way.
Photo Captions: Acanthus, William Morris. Capsule Collection Autumn Winter 2017, photographed at Standen House, West Sussex, England. Strawberry Thief, William Morris.