Loewe Women’s RTW Spring 2023

A pristine red anthurium, alive in a box and feeding on a small test tube of water, arrived as the Loewe invitation, and a giant fiberglass replica lorded over Jonathan Anderson’s gleaming white show set.

After a gripping Loewe men’s show in June that exalted nature and technology in tender and disquieting ways, here was another spectacle that made you think about both — and dazzled you with fashion fireworks.

Sipping coffee from a paper cup after the show, Anderson noted that the anthurium, so glossy, still and perfect, looks fake and almost manufactured, and he toyed with this concept in his spellbinding show.

Were those shells or flowers engulfing the shoes, trembling as the models walked? In fact, they were deflated balloons, a wink to his fall collection that used partially inflated ones as offbeat shoe heels and decoration on jersey dresses.

The anthuriums that fronted spring’s cocktail dresses and evening gowns — some life-size and covering the breasts; others serving as the whole bodice — had you wondering, and reflecting on our zoom-in, zoom-out smartphone-based lives.

Anderson settled on a few key silhouettes, and both were sensational. There were tight polo shirts that flared out into brief baby-doll dresses; minidresses with compact panniers, one of the more offbeat trends this season, and shrunken hunting jackets and shearling bombers, either snug or trapeze in shape.

At the other extreme, supersized sweatshirts and wing-tip tuxedo shirts became soigné sack dresses, arms poking through the bodice and the overly-long sleeves dangling free. Long jersey dresses, in literal hourglass shapes cinched with bows, were delicate and divine.

Most exits consisted of nothing more than a dress and a pair of quirky statement shoes, which have become a Loewe stronghold and one of the most expressive categories in fashion today.

Anderson has been in a mood lately to reduce and distill his fashions, including at his JW Anderson label, where he’s also been playing with proportions in playful and mind-bending ways. At Loewe, he said he wanted something “blunt” as a message. “How do you make austere positive?” he mused.

But the show also included what he called “glitches,” which translated into sweatshirts and cargo pants, their details pixelated. And then everything would come back into focus, and dazzle anew.