The latter weeks of the year provide ample opportunity for dressing with abandon: after all, the festive season has never been a time for holding back. So, whether it’s a pair of peep-toe platform heels encrusted with 18,500 rhinestones, a strass and sequin embroidered tuxedo jacket, or a barely-there dress with which to channel your inner supermodel, the coming days provide numerous opportunities for dressing with unrestrained glamour.
Glamour has recently been on the mind of British designer Jonathan Anderson, at both his namesake label JW Anderson and Loewe, where he works as as creative director, in a year which saw him deemed the “quite possibly the most prolific designer of our proudly prolific times” by AnOther Magazine’s editor-in-chief Susannah Frankel. His Autumn/Winter 2019 collection at JW Anderson was about the “idea of fantasy and imagination in fashion” – softly draped tunics and capes made for grand silhouettes; delicate clouds of tulle trailed from heeled shoes; fil-coupé gowns appeared to be entirely covered in feathers – while at Loewe, that same season, streamlined silhouettes were enlivened with hundreds of pearls, sprays of coloured marabou, and folds of broderie anglaise which began by looking at delicately rendered 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century miniatures.
A fringed Loewe skirt with tinsel-like fronds – captured here by photographer Maxime Imbert and AnOther’s junior fashion editor Rebecca Perlmutar – is demonstration of Anderson’s off-kilter glamour. It makes for an apt, if unexpected, take on Christmas party dressing – more than made for a late-night turn about the dancefloor.
Hair: Kei Takano using Bumble and Bumble. Make-up: Fiona Gallagher. Model: Tao Quan at Wilhelmina. Casting: Julia Gilmour.
