When nature and technology converge: Loewe’s spring/summer 2023 menswear collection
#REPORTER
1 JULY ‘22
5 minutes


Image source: @loewe
Loewes's Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear collection:
dichotomy of nature and technology
With fashion already beginning to enter a new age of digitalization,
Jonathan Anderson, the creative director at Loewe, a major luxury fashion house based in Spain, traverses this pivotal transition with his Spring/Summer 2023 Menswear collection in a way that explores the dichotomy of nature and technology.
What really makes this collection stand out is the use of living plants, specifically chia plants and cat’s wort, entwined and growing from various garments and accessories.
Jonathan Anderson described this collection as “a fusion of the organic and the fabricated,” a dichotomy of nature and technology. Within this Loewe collection, there were pants, coats, sweatshirts, and shoes flourishing with living plants. This implementation of greenery grew from a collaboration with the Spanish sustainable designer Paula Ulargui Escalona, a designer who has been recently experimenting with cultivating plants onto fabric.
In combination with these live plants, there were many looks within Loewe’s collection that played with the implementation of technology, which is where Jonathon Anderson mainly entered the picture. There were an array of wraparound masks, coats, and
T-shirts embedded with screens that played videos that ranged from people kissing to flocks of flying birds or schools of tropical fish, and much more. Anderson also wanted to make the physical show appear like a computer-generated simulation when viewed during his livestream video. Anderson left the set completely white, therefore creating a rather surreal setting for this spectacular show.
Loewe’s collection brings to light how nature and technology, how living plants and video-playing screens, can go hand-in-hand to create beauty and progress. Nature and technology don't need to be separate, and this also raises the question of how do we progress as a society by entwining nature and technology rather than constantly juxtaposing them?
The constant juxtaposition does not seem to be the right plan of action nor constructive and efficient as stated by Anderson, “maybe out of this…we can find progression somehow.” It seems that this collection was created to inspire this discussion of technology and nature. How do we meld the two together for the hope of progress, progress for humanity and the world? These are pivotal questions that will change the course of humanity and our planet.

Image source: @ulargui_escalona

Image source: @ulargui_escalona

Image source: @ulargui_escalona
Loewe’s collection brings to light how nature and technology, how living plants and video-playing screens, can go hand-in-hand to create beauty and progress. Nature and technology don't need to be separate, and this also raises the question of how do we progress as a society by entwining nature and technology rather than constantly juxtaposing them?
The constant juxtaposition does not seem to be the right plan of action nor constructive and efficient as stated by Anderson, “maybe out of this…we can find progression somehow.” It seems that this collection was created to inspire this discussion of technology and nature. How do we meld the two together for the hope of progress, progress for humanity and the world? These are pivotal questions that will change the course of humanity and our planet.

Image source: @loewe

Image source: @loewe

Image source: @ulargui_escalona

Image source: @loewe

Image source: @loewe
Sources
https://vman.com/article/loewe-spring-summer-2023-jonathan-anderson/
https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2023-menswear/loewe