“The Loewe Spring Summer 2025 men’s show unfolds around a group of objects created by some of the most singular artistic voices of the 20th century,” said the notes mailed out just before the catwalk began. Those objects? Bronze figurines by Paul Thek, a coat rack and argyle chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Paul Thek’s spinning top, Carlo Scarpa’s easel, the photograph ‘Shoe for Elizabeth’ by Peter Hujar, and a copy of Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag.

Sontag believed “in the mystery of the art object and the beauty of allowing the viewer to engage with it on their own terms”, and that’s exactly what Jonathan Anderson professed on the PFW runway. Anderson’s artists appeared in bouncy, knitted harem pants, gingham sarongs, robust leather coats, and polo tops with belts wrapped around the hem.

For all the ideas in the show – and there were definitely a lot – arguably the most arresting was the feathers hanging from models’ foreheads, in black and white or gold. We’ve seen feather motifs pop up on Anderson’s catwalks before – most notably on cherub wings – but were these feathers impeding model’s vision or helping them to take flight? That’s for you to decide, say Sontag and Anderson.

Photography Jamie-Maree Shipton

‍