Fashion Week has come to be a competition of excess—every detail imagined in its most extravagant form. For Loewe’s latest show, creative director Jonathan Anderson employed the radical act of reduction. Garments were pared back, conceived through a muted color palette, and constructed with materials loved by old master painters: parchment, velvet, steel, leather, satin, and wool.

Craftsmanship proved central to the presentation, displayed through structured coats built by hat makers, and in its dialogue with the practice of contemporary American artist Julien Nguyen; his works merge references from the Renaissance with the futuristic utilitarianism of science fiction, to make the modern iconography that powered the collection. The artist created three artworks for Loewe’s Fall/Winter 2023 presentation: a portrait miniature of the house’s model and muse Nikos, littered with hidden meaning, and two digital images that see him in a domestic setting, his body inscribed with musings on love.

Copper served as both the base for Nguyen’s paintings and as the primary material for a standout jacket—its metal beat into a wearable shape. Its stiff structure was similarly rendered in wool overcoats and jumpers, a shirt with floating collars made from parchment, and angel wings tacked to the backs of shirts. On the runway, these pieces hardly moved—sculptures that happened to fit the body, rather than clothing built for practical wear.

“I hope that we’re going into a period where it is about being uncomfortable in design, that we are trying to find something new,” Anderson said. “I do feel like less is more—but in a new way.” For Loewe, minimalism does not mean redundancy, or simplicity; rather, it allows one to spotlight experimentation. Exaggerated materiality makes way for bold silhouettes, and craft carries quality.