This season saw Jonathan Anderson forgo his traditional runway show on the Paris Fashion Week schedule in favour of a large-scale presentation, inviting guests to view the collection close-up inside the historical Hôtel de Maisons – Karl Lagerfeld’s former home on Rue de l’Université. In spite of the unconventional format, in true Anderson fashion, the designer still managed to draw a string of A-List attendees including Mark Eydelshteyn, Jamie Dornan and Aron Piper.

Separated into seventeen themed rooms, iconic artworks from Loewe’s history populated the space including Athena Hamilton’s giant pumpkins from the FW22 show, inflated acrobats from the brand’s jewellery collection and, in the garden, a collection of mushroom staddle stones that featured in Loewe Chairs at Salone del Mobile. With such close ties to artistry, this season Anderson focused on the work of Josef and Anni Albers. Pioneers of 20th-century modernism and central in the Bauhaus movement, Anderson collaborated with the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, directly transforming colour blocks from Josef Albers’s Homage to the Square series onto the iconic Puzzle bag, and reimagining Anni Albers’s pictorial weavings across twill outerwear.

Presented as a co-ed collection, Anderson conceived both his womenswear and menswear as a “scrapbook of ideas,” playing with notions of distortion, scale, volume, and the beauty of trompe l’oeil. Sculptural silhouettes populated the collection; jersey dresses were carved into circular forms, chunky knitwear was constructed with balloon sleeves, and leather outerwear was spliced and diced in billowing shapes. Crinoline hoop dresses were reimagined with shortened hemlines, strings of beaded organza formed soft silhouettes, and footwear shimmered metallic gold. Anderson’s menswear worked in parallel with the surrealist principles at the heart of his womenswear. Abstract forms saw leather jackets cut in voluminous silhouettes and accented with harness buckles, while herringbone blazers were sharp-shouldered and double-breasted, and simple poplin shirts were given a twist with elongated V-necks. Rumours continue to swirl that this will be Anderson’s last collection for Loewe, if so, it’s a fittingly retrospective and ever-progressive vision of the designer’s agenda-setting time at the Spanish house.