PARIS (AP) — Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the celebrated design duo behind Proenza Schouler, will take over as inventive administrators at Loewe, the Spanish luxurious home introduced Monday.
Their tenure begins April 7, succeeding Jonathan Anderson, who stepped down final week after an influential 11-year run that elevated Loewe into a serious world model, reaching annual revenues exceeding a reported $1.5 billion.
McCollough and Hernandez, identified for pioneering a particular American aesthetic since founding Proenza Schouler in 2002, are relocating from New York Metropolis to Paris, residence to Loewe’s inventive places of work. The designers additionally plan frequent visits to Madrid, the place Loewe originated as a leather-maker serving the Spanish royal household in 1846.
The duo established Proenza Schouler as a downtown darling, referencing cultural touchpoints similar to artists Helen Frankenthaler and John Currin, filmmaker Concord Korine and singer Annie Lennox. Whereas the model struggled to duplicate the immense success of its utilitarian PS1 bag, subsequent collections featured sculptural but supple shapes, together with ruched totes and crescent-moon wristlets.
“We are incredibly honoured to join Loewe, a house whose values and mission align closely with our own,” McCollough and Hernandez stated in an announcement launched by Loewe. They expressed pleasure at persevering with the model’s celebrated dedication to craft, nurtured beneath Anderson.
The transition marks one other important reshuffle inside luxurious conglomerate LVMH, which owns each Loewe and Dior.
LVMH has been recasting key inventive roles throughout manufacturers together with Givenchy, Fendi and Dior to reignite progress after luxurious’s post-pandemic slowdown. Rival teams are making comparable strikes, with Kering appointing Demna as Gucci’s creative director and Chanel getting ready for Matthieu Blazy’s debut.
Sidney Toledano, CEO of LVMH Trend Group, praised McCollough and Hernandez’s “eclectic creativity and dedication to craft,” calling the duo “a natural choice” to information Loewe’s evolution.
At Loewe, the duo inherits a model having fun with unparalleled visibility and business goodwill due to Anderson’s eclectic and revolutionary strategy. Initiatives such because the Loewe Craft Prize, Salone del Cellular exhibitions and partnerships with influential content material creators and celebrities will supply them a robust platform to amplify their imaginative and prescient far past what was achievable at their impartial model.
McCollough and Hernandez stepped down from Proenza Schouler in January however stay on its board. The model is presently led by CEO Shira Suveyke Snyder, who joined final October and is spearheading the seek for a brand new inventive director.
