Loewe Menswear Spring 2024 Paris

Jonathan Anderson called it a “one-silhouette collection.” But what a silhouette, hinged on radical high-waisted pants, often sparkly.

After another mind-bending Loewe men’s show, this one full of sparkly surfaces and radical high-waisted jeans, everyone seemed interested in the opinion of “Succession” star Brian Cox, making his first appearance at Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.

“I didn’t know what to expect, and I was actually genuinely surprised and delighted,” the 77-year-old said, dressed in a loose, bright blue shirt that he left untucked. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is so risky.’ My only worry is the long trousers because I knew somebody who had a bad accident with those trousers by tripping over them.

“But I mean, you have to be very, very thin,” Cox related, astonished by the beanpole models. “I couldn’t wear that. I mean, look at me.”

Jonathan Anderson

On a similar wavelength as Rick Owens, Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson went all in for full-legged pants with a waistband that almost reaches the ribcage, giving the torso a crunched appearance. 

“Stretching out the proportion,” Anderson explained in a scrum after the show, explaining that the set, with its towering fountain sculptures by Lynda Beglis, reinforced this idea. “It’s a one-silhouette show.”

There’s no denying that his handsome young cast looked terrific in this elongated, raised-waist silhouette, which brought to mind “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry — and also extroverts like Cher in the 1970s, partial then to sparkly, flaring pants.

Anderson paved his jeans, banker shirts, knitted polos and twin sets in tiny crystals, and then sprinkled even more on the rounded toes of Chelsea boots, and the squared-off fronts of ballet flats.

Occasionally he subbed in a chunky, color-blocked sweater, a tight argyle knit, or an abbreviated trench coat that bubbled over the waist.

Cox was right: Only the slender and long-limbed will be able to enter most of these clothes.

But there also were some handsome, more classically luxurious items, including robe coats in luscious shearling, layered rib-knit sweaters with zippered, funnel necks — and one super-long cardigan that belted around the hips.

That last look reminded us that Anderson, one of the most daring designers of our time, is unafraid to bend our minds, and change our eyes.

Creative Direction Jonathan Anderson
Styling Benjamin Bruno
Casting Ashley Brokaw
Hair Anthony Turner
Make up Lynsey Alexander
Show coordination Holmes
Production Production La Mode en Images
Soundtrack Studio Frederic Sanchez
Moving image Titre Provisoire
Artworks by Lynda Benglis