All photos courtesy of Loewe.
This year marks Loewe‘s 180th anniversary, making it one of the oldest fashion houses in the world. But don’t let the triple-digit age fool you, the Spanish brand is still thoroughly modern and youthful, easily adapting with the times and speaking to a whole new generation of customers online. With handbags like the Puzzle, Flamenco, and Amazona 180—Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s first purse for the brand and a fresh take on the original—Loewe has established itself as a purveyor of It-bags. The two designers’ exuberance for creating is palpable in every piece they send down the runway. As they wrote in the show notes for their second collection for the house, “the act of making is, at its core, an expression of joy—an intellectual, process-driven pursuit charged with playfulness.”
In commemoration of almost two centuries of setting trends, we called up Nicky Campbell to pour over binders filled with handbag reference photos and chat about what makes Loewe so enduring and unique.
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WEDNESDAY 2:04 PM, JUNE 3, 2026, NEW YORK CITY
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NICKY CAMPBELL: Hello. How are you?
EMILY KIRKPATRICK: I’m good. How are you?
CAMPBELL: Good. Sorry I was running a little late today.
KIRKPATRICK: No worries at all. Hardly late. Four minutes.
CAMPBELL: I know. That’s actually really early for me.
KIRKPATRICK: So let’s talk Loewe, how would you describe it, both as a brand and aesthetically?
CAMPBELL: In my mind, they’re the fashion brand that I associate most with craftsmanship. Everything’s in the details. It’s incredibly thought out. They connect fashion with art in the most beautiful way that a lot of other brands strive for. They have a real understanding of craftsmanship, but also how to really bring the pieces alive in a way that gets people excited.
Aesthetically, I think of it as quite bright, quite playful, and quite bold. A little whimsical, which is nice because a lot of brands can be scared to be playful in the luxury space. They’re afraid to experiment too much, or to be too bright, or too happy. There’s that classic thing of people in fashion feeling they need to be really serious and really dark, and they’ve broken that mold. I think all of their ad campaigns are a good representation of that. It’s just fun and kooky.
KIRKPATRICK: Yeah. I feel like they do a nice job of balancing. They are such an old brand, so they have the heritage element, but there’s still that, like you said, youthful, playful side. They’re not afraid of making a joke at their own expense, which is rare.
CAMPBELL: They have a sense of humor.
KIRKPATRICK: And you’re right about the way they integrate art and artistry across so many different platforms too. I’m thinking about the poetry prize they have. They pop up in places you might not expect a fashion brand to pop up.
CAMPBELL: Yeah, it’s like, is there a business return on them doing the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize? I don’t know, but it’s something that they believe in supporting that has this natural synergy with their brand that helps bridge that gap of art and fashion. I think of them as a brand that can naturally play in both spaces.
KIRKPATRICK: I think it also helps flesh out the world of the brand. Once you see who they work with in these different disciplines, you’re like, okay, I really understand the Loewe customer on a different level.
CAMPBELL: Totally.
Look 2 from Loewe’s SS26 collection
KIRKPATRICK: What would you say are the specific hallmarks or recurring signatures of Loewe’s designs?
CAMPBELL: I would say that whimsical, playful nature. I think of the tomato bag they created or the pixelated hoodie or the pieces where the grass is growing out of them. They’re all tied together by craftsmanship because those are all, like…how the fuck did they even make that?
KIRKPATRICK: Absolutely.
CAMPBELL: The products are also quite funny and unexpected to see in the luxury space. They’re sort of ridiculous, but they’re still thoughtful and they don’t ever come across tacky. They just come across as fun and whimsical. People really buy them too. They want to wear the things that are sort of gaggy, for lack of a better word.
KIRKPATRICK: I think the examples you gave also speak to how good the brand is at speaking to a digital age or meme culture in a way that I haven’t really seen from a high fashion brand.
Diana Ross seen at LAX Airport Circa 1980’s (Photo by Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch via Getty Images, courtesy of Loewe).
CAMPBELL: They’re plugged into the internet and what the consumers are saying about them. They have this beautiful relationship with their consumer, which I think is why people love the brand so much. Even the way their TikTok and accounts are run, they have a real understanding of what people want to see from them. They know the pieces and the products that are going to be those viral moments, but they’re able to do it in a way that feels genuine, not gimmicky. It’s like a symbiotic relationship that a lot of other brands strive for.
KIRKPATRICK: It feels very much like they’re meeting their customers where they live organically instead of trying to shoehorn themselves into trending topics or viral sounds.
CAMPBELL: Yeah. And they put their own spin on it.
KIRKPATRICK: It’s Loewe’s 180th anniversary this year. Why do you think the brand has been so enduring and able to evolve with the times?
CAMPBELL: It’s a combination of understanding how they have to evolve, but also never losing their roots as one of the oldest luxury houses in the world. And keeping craftsmanship at the root of what they do, because the product is also really good. I think that that’s the most important part really. They never sacrifice or compromise that in any way for their ideas. The core of it is still these incredible leather accessories that have gone on now for almost two centuries, which is crazy. Even if you look at the Amazona bag, the way in which that has developed over time. I mean, I have some of those in my collection. Then seeing the new version that Jack and Lazaro just put out, I’m like, “I need that now.” It’s this new spin, and it’s also like you can grow with the brand over time. They’re always doing some new thing that you have to have.
KIRKPATRICK: Have to have it. I feel like what fashion keeps learning is craftsmanship and quality is what people circle back to over and over again. Even having this conversation about quiet luxury now, it’s like what people are really gravitating towards isn’t just being a rich person. It’s the quality of the materials, the simpleness, the enduring craftsmanship.
CAMPBELL: It has to be there, and I just don’t think it is with a lot of other brands. The prices are getting higher, but I don’t know that the quality is being maintained. [Laughs]
KIRKPATRICK: Absolutely.
CAMPBELL: I think Loewe has been able to find that balance.
KIRKPATRICK: You touched on the Amazona, but how would you describe Loewe’s handbags?
CAMPBELL: Rich. I think it’s just some of the best, sexiest, supple, most fabulous leather. Just rich. I love it. It is timeless. It’s classic, but they have found a way to evolve over time in a way that still makes everything feel fresh. It’s beautiful. I mean, I was really combing through those images that you sent and I was like, holy shit.
KIRKPATRICK: Aren’t they amazing?
CAMPBELL: Yeah. It’s crazy. I hadn’t seen a lot of those before.
KIRKPATRICK: I know. I am personally obsessed with the bag binder photos. Just seeing them through the years and even looking at the ones they were doing in the ’60s, I’m like, that’s so now. The relevance is still there.
CAMPBELL: It’s crazy. Everything comes back ultimately, but they had their finger on the pulse from an early age. It feels very Spanish. It has a different quality to it that you just don’t see in Paris.
KIRKPATRICK: That’s really interesting.
CAMPBELL: It has a lot of life to it.
KIRKPATRICK: What do you think makes an It-bag and why do you think Loewe seems to be so good at making them?
CAMPBELL: I think it has to be singular. I don’t think it can look like anything else and it can’t be chasing a trend too quickly. I think a lot of people see trends happening in the industry and then they’ll try to modify a bag for that, and it doesn’t work because it’s not intrinsic to the design of that bag.
KIRKPATRICK: Totally.
Look 14 from Loewe’s FW27 collection
CAMPBELL: The best thing is just to make it very, very singular and distinct. That’s why the Puzzle bag has done so well because I can’t get that anywhere else, and I also can’t find anything remotely similar to it. That’s the thing about Loewe. Like with the Puzzle bag, I was like, “Oh, this is so interesting. I love it.” Then you learn how it’s actually made and how it’s pieced together, and you’re like, “Oh my god, I’m sold.”
KIRKPATRICK: Right. The story is there, it’s not just the aesthetics.
CAMPBELL: Yeah. A lot of other brands just don’t have that to the same level they do. It’s like, okay, fine, I’ll take the Puzzle bag in every color.
KIRKPATRICK: I’ll load up, I guess.
Madonna carrying the Amazona bag (Photo by James Devaney/FilmMagic, courtesy of Loewe).
CAMPBELL: It doesn’t look like anything else on the market. I think they just create things within their own little world, and if it does well, great. You can’t force a hit movie, you can’t force a hit song. You just have to make something that is true to the vision and you think is sick.
KIRKPATRICK: They’ve always been willing to take risks like that. I think another reason these bags endure is because it feels like they’re designing for a far-off future. So they’re like, “We’ll just wait for the customers and the times to catch up with us. You guys will get it eventually. Don’t worry.”
CAMPBELL: Totally. If you’re designing too much for the moment, it’s like—
KIRKPATRICK: It feels like a flash in the pan.
CAMPBELL: Yeah.
KIRKPATRICK: How do you think that the brand has changed under Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, and how would you describe their vision for it?
CAMPBELL: I’m really pleasantly surprised and pleased with what they’re doing. It’s funny, I was at their first show, and it reminded me of their very, very early collections at Proenza where there’s a real emphasis on texture, and it’s much more playful, but it also feels more mature. I think Jonathan [Anderson] was full balls to the wall, whimsy, like crazy, gaggy shit. And with Jack and Lazaro, what’s great is that they’re not losing that. The collections are still really fun. The silhouettes are really artistic and challenging. The way that they’re playing with color and the construction of everything is still really impressive, but it also feels more mature. It feels like they’re really considering the everyday person and how that fits into their life and wardrobe.
KIRKPATRICK: Totally. I feel like you can feel their evolution as designers as well. They’re delving deeper into their own practice and you can really see that at Loewe.
CAMPBELL: It’s amazing because they haven’t been there for that long, but I think that they’re one of those people that just get it.
KIRKPATRICK: They do.
CAMPBELL: They just understand what their vision is. They understand the brand, they understand the customer, they understand everything, but it’s unique and singular to them. They’re not trying to replace what Jonathan was doing. They’re bringing their own thing to it, and it feels fresh and new in a way that fashion needs right now. They understand that this is a big powerhouse brand, and they are much more mature themselves as designers, and keeping that in mind for the consumer.
KIRKPATRICK: They always have such a clear idea of their consumer. Throughout their careers, I’ve always wanted to be their girl. [Laughs] The vision that they have for the woman that they’re dressing, I’m always, like, hell yeah. That is the woman I think everyone wants to be.
CAMPBELL: Totally. She’s strong.
KIRKPATRICK: Strong, but cool and easy.
CAMPBELL: It is surprisingly wearable.
KIRKPATRICK: Right? For being so artistic and conceptual at times, I do feel like there’s a real wearability that’s such a hard balance to strike.
CAMPBELL: It really is. I was surprised by that. I went to a dinner they hosted a couple of months ago, and I was going with my two clients that I style. I was like, “Huh, I wonder how this is actually going to look in person?” I loved it on the runway, but I was like, “How is this going to play?” We loved everything we tried. And it all felt so easy. I think it’s the perfect fit, and I’m really excited to see where they take it.
Look 64 from Loewe’s FW27 collection
