The talented designers have ginormous shoes to fill after Jonathan Anderson’s exit from the Spanish brand he helped transform.
It’s one new appointment after another at the highest tier of luxury houses that we can barely keep up. It’s Loewe again making headlines, but this time it’s to welcome Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, co-founders of Proenza Schouler, as its new creative directors effective April 7. Just last week The POST reported on the Spanish luxury brand saying goodbye to Jonathan Anderson, its creative director for over 11 years.
Earlier this year, The POST also gave an update on the American duo’s departure from the New York-based brand they founded 22 years ago, amid rumors that they are headed to Loewe—and the rumor mill is right all along. They remain shareholders of Proenza Schouler.
“Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez will have the entire creative responsibility of all Loewe collections across womenswear, menswear, leather goods and accessories,” the statement from Loewe said.
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McCollough and Hernandez, who trace their friendship all the way back to college at Parsons School of Design, are pillars of the New York Fashion scene. Through Proenza Schouler, they made luxury fashion cool but still elegant, chic, and timeless, winning over A-list fans from Michelle Obama to Kylie Jenner, Chloë Sevigny to Beyoncé.
A few hours before the huge announcement McCollough and Hernandez sat with Vogue Business and talked about their plans for Loewe. In the interview, they said that Loewe’s values “have always spoken to us and align very closely with our own: a commitment to craft and the arts, the freedom and love of experimentation and pushing boundaries, and, of course, a deep engagement with culture.” They added that their goal at Loewe is to “honor the codes of the house” through their own cultural histories and personal aesthetic perspectives, highlighting the brand’s core identity in a new way while making it resonate with the present.
The first thing they plan to do upon arriving, per Vogue Business, is to meet Loewe’s teams, artisans, and craftspeople.
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Despite their immense talent, McCollough and Hernandez have ginormous shoes to fill. During his 11-year tenure, Jonathan Anderson transformed Loewe from a small luxury brand to one of the world’s most sought-after fashion labels. Anderson upheld Loewe’s impeccable craftsmanship, while injecting much needed excitement drawn from strong cultural references. He is also responsible for crafting iconic products, the most famous of which is Loewe’s Puzzle bag.
Anderson also made the brand a household name—and something we can already pronounce correctly—without taking away its luster, thanks to his ingenious marketing strategies which feature campaigns starring the likes of Daniel Craig, Dame Maggie Smith, and Ayo Edebiri.
More than uplifting the brand’s image and attracting new and loyal fans, Loewe’s sales under Anderson went from approximately €230 million in 2014, according to Morgan Stanley estimates, to between €1.5 billion and €2 billion in 2024, according to estimates by Bernstein analyst Luca Solca. In its 2024 earnings statement, LVMH said Loewe was “buoyed by growing brand awareness and the bold creativity of its collections”.
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This development from Loewe comes amid a broader reshuffling of top posts at global fashion brands, influenced by geopolitical factors including a worsening trade war, trickier market conditions, and a sluggish Chinese demand. In a January report, consultants Bain & Company estimated that only about a third of the world’s luxury brands experienced growth in 2024. “Global luxury consumers, grappling with macroeconomic uncertainty and continued price elevation by brands, cut back slightly on discretionary items,” it said.
Among the latest fashion rejigs are Denma joining Gucci just last week, and Donatella Versace leaving the brand founded by her late brother Gianni earlier this month.
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