178 years

OF CRAFT

1846
WORKSHOP
BEGINNINGS
1846

A collective of Spanish artisans opens a leather workshop on calle Lobo, a bustling street in the heart of Madrid. Initially, the atelier made small leather goods such as purses, wallets, cigarette and jewellery cases, and frames.

Enrique Loewe Roessberg, a German leather craftsman who settled in Madrid, is impressed by the artisans’ know-how and the quality of their materials and decides to join forces with the workshop in 1872. Combining Enrique Loewe’s precision and technical methodology with the creativity and inimitable leather craftsmanship of the Spanish artisans, LOEWE was born.

1892
WORKSHOP
BEGINNINGS
1892

Our first store

The house, originally called E. Loewe, opens a large store and workshop on calle Príncipe, one of late 19th century Madrid’s most fashionable streets. Described as a ‘Leather Goods Factory’, it creates all kinds of small leather goods and begins to design women's handbags.​

1905
A ROYAL
WARRANT
1905

LOEWE becomes an official supplier to the Spanish Royal Crown, an honour granted to the second generation owner of the house Enrique Loewe Hinton by King Alfonso XIII. ​

1910
FIRST STEPS
IN BARCELONA
1910

Beginning its expansion across Spain, LOEWE opens two stores in Barcelona.

1940s
A NEW
FLAGSHIP
1940s

LOEWE inaugurates the flagship Gran Vía store in central Madrid in 1939. Led by prestigious architect Francisco Ferrer Bartolomé, the project is later reformed to add striking semicircular windows that mask the view of the interior to pedestrians while highlighting products against large curtains—a new concept that contributes to building the brand's image of luxury and refinement.

1940s
LEGENDARY
WINDOWS
1940s

Between 1945 and 1978, artistic director José Pérez de Rozas creates LOEWE’s renowned window displays. Due to their unbound creativity, these theatrical displays are eagerly awaited each season and remain in the Spanish collective memory as true works of art. The windows are still a feature of the Barcelona store today, located in a modernist building on Paseo de Gracia. ​

1950s
TEACHING
LEATHER CRAFT
1950s

The brand opens one of the world’s most important leather craft factories in the center of Madrid, on Calle Ferrocarril. A school of leather craft is also created, with a system of teachers and apprentices ensuring knowledge is passed from one generation to the next.

Storied clientele

Madrid at this time is a city revered for its prosperous and glamorous international milieu. According to legend, famed writer Ernest Hemingway gifts a LOEWE bag to actress Ava Gardner while in the city and the house’s client list now includes an array of cultural luminaries and influential Royalty, including Princess Grace of Monaco. The carefully preserved signature book of the LOEWE Gran Vía store testifies to the visits of this storied clientele.

1960s
ARCHITECTURAL
INNOVATION
1960s

LOEWE inaugurates a space on calle Serrano in Madrid’s golden mile district, one of the most prestigious areas of the capital. New stores in San Sebastian, the traditional summer holiday retreat of the Royal Family, Bilbao, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Granada, Córdoba, Las Palmas, Tenerife and Tangier soon followed.

Third generation leader of the house Enrique Loewe Knappe entrusts the building project to Javier Carvajal, one of the most innovative architects of the moment. Creating a game of contrasts between the interiors and exteriors, and referencing Nordic style, the new Carvajal concept gives the LOEWE brand an avant-garde twist.​

1963
A NEW
CITY
1963

LOEWE arrives in London.

1970
THE
ANAGRAM
1970

Designer Vicente Vela creates LOEWE’s Anagram motif, a distinctive monogram of four ‘L’s that takes inspiration from the original branding irons used to mark high quality leather.

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1970s
WOMENSWEAR
GOES
INTERNATIONAL
1970s

The women’s ready-to-wear collections that first launched in 1960 are now launched internationally. The 1970s are marked by international expansion, with LOEWE opening in capital cities around the world including Tokyo in 1973 and over 30 stores and stockists across Asia.

1972
LAUNCHING
LOEWE
PERFUMES
1972

​LOEWE enters the world of fragrances and launches the first women’s perfume. Over the years, more fragrances are launched: Loewe Pour Homme (1974); Aire (1985); Esencia (1987); Aura (1994); Agua (2000); Solo (2004); 7(2010) and 001 (2016), Earth (2022) among others.

1983
INTRODUCING
MENSWEAR
1983

LOEWE launches a men's fashion collection.

1985
INTERNATIONAL
EXPANSION
1985

Louis Vuitton, later the LVMH group, becomes a shareholder in LOEWE. During this period, LOEWE established itself in several European capitals and enjoys an ever-increasing presence in Asia with new stores in Japan, Singapore and China.

1988
LAUNCHING
LOEWE
FOUNDATION
1988

LOEWE creates the LOEWE FOUNDATION, presided by Enrique Loewe Lynch and today led by his daughter, Sheila Loewe Boente. Its founding mission is to promote creativity, support education and safeguard heritage in the fields of craft, art, photography, poetry and dance with a series of landmark projects and platforms.

Images left to right: Sheila Loewe Boente, President of the LOEWE FOUNDATION; Ernst Gamperl winner of the inaugural LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize with his entry Tree of Life 2 (2016); published editions by winners of the LOEWE International Poetry Prize, established 1988; Elizabeth Taylor (1968) by Ron Galella, exhibited at the 2011 LOEWE FOUNDATION exhibition in partnership with PHotoESPAÑA.

1990s
JOINING
LVMH
1990s

​In the year of LOEWE’s 150th birthday, the house is acquired by the LVMH Group. The company modernises its operations, opening a new factory on the outskirts of Madrid, and sets a plan to achieve its potential as a leading global luxury brand.

2002
HONOURING
LOEWE
FOUNDATION
2002

The LOEWE FOUNDATION is awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, the highest honour granted by the Spanish government.

2013
A NEW
ERA
2013

Jonathan Anderson is appointed LOEWE creative director.

2014
REIMAGINING
LOEWE
2014

LOEWE reveals a new brand identity, including an updated logo, created in a collaboration between Jonathan Anderson and design studio M/M (Paris). Debuting his first collection to widespread acclaim, Anderson’s first ad campaign sees the collection’s new silhouettes styled by Benjamin Bruno and shot in New York by Steve Meisel—the legendary photographer is cited as a crucial reference point in Anderson’s vision for reimagining LOEWE.

2015
LAUNCHING
THE PUZZLE
2015
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The Puzzle bag is launched, Anderson’s first new bag design for the house. Soon becoming an icon within the collection, the Puzzle is defined by its precise geometry and distinctive cuboid structure composed of 75 leather pieces in a range of sizes, colours, leathers and animations.

2016
THE
CRAFT PRIZE
2016

The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize is established by Jonathan Anderson as one of the world’s first international awards for contemporary craft. Aiming to shine a light on excellence, innovation, artistic ambition, and the continuing contribution of craft to the culture of our time, the inaugural edition of the annual prize is held in Madrid with later editions in Tokyo, Seoul, and New York. Entries are judged by an expert panel and jury of leading figures from the world of design, architecture, journalism, criticism, and museum curatorship.

Salone del Mobile

LOEWE stages its inaugural installation during the Salone del Mobile design fair in Milan. The landmark project showcases the house’s leather expertise with a set of oak furniture featuring unique designs composed from multiple fragments of leather in various shapes and colours. The innovative project updates existing forms of craft in an elaborate process informed by methods used in traditional bookbinding and woodworking.

At the 2017 edition of Salone del Mobile, LOEWE celebrates artisanal leathercraft with a furniture exhibition, followed by projects including LOEWE Blankets in 2018, LOEWE Baskets in 2019, LOEWE Weaves in 2021, Weave, Restore, Renew in 2022, and LOEWE Chairs in 2023.

2017
CELEBRATING
CRAFT
2017

The brand launches the first of its Paula’s Ibiza collections in collaboration with the legendary Ibizan boutique Paula’s. Fusing bohemian coastal dressing with Paula’s playful archive prints, the annual capsule collection presents effortless summer leisure wear and accessories in an array of organic textures and bold colours.

Capsule collections​

Seasonal capsule collections are launched with an homage to leading figures in the Arts and Crafts movement, including William Morris in 2017, followed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 2018, and William de Morgan in 2019. These winter capsules begin a tradition of reviving the work, aesthetics, and achievements of historical artists, reinterpreting their enduring creative vision in a modern collection of RTW, bags, and accessories. Later projects include collections inspired by Japanese ceramicist Takuro Kuwata, American artist Ken Price, and British potter Bernard Leach.

2019
REDESIGNING
OUR STORES
2019

The CASA LOEWE concept is launched with CASA LOEWE Madrid, a space where LOEWE fashion collections are interspersed with art, craft and design. Offering a refined, personal, and culturally rich shopping experience, CASA LOEWE is designed to be explored like a private residence, showcasing works from LOEWE’s growing anthology of artworks. From painting and sculpture by contemporary artists to craft objects and furniture, the collection reflects a fluid relationship between art forms, rotating seasonally to create an ever-shifting series of installations.

2020
LOEWE
HOME SCENTS
2020
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LOEWE launches Home Scents, a collection of home fragrances based on the raw essences of a vegetable garden. These include candles, diffusers and sprays in honeysuckle, beetroot, juniper berry, tomato leaves, coriander, liquorice, scent of marihuana, luscious pea, oregano, cypress balls and ivy.

Following Jonathan Anderson’s debut fragrance LOEWE 001 in 2016, LOEWE’s entire perfume collection is relaunched as Botanical Rainbow. The house’s existing iconic fragrances are reimagined in a new colour-based system: a rainbow-shaded repertoire of scent with distinctive block-shaped flasks designed by Anderson himself.

2020
INNOVATING
THE RUNWAY
2020

Due to the global pandemic, the women’s and men’s runway shows take place remotely in new, innovative forms. SS21’s Show-on-the-Wall is a lifesize women’s runway show in paper, featuring a collaboration with artist Anthea Hamilton. The SS21 men’s Show-in-a-Box draws inspiration from art experiments such as Marcel Duchamp’s Museum in a Box, while FW21 is presented as a Show in a Book, a 200-page hardbound volume devoted to the graphic works and publications of artist and writer Joe Brainard. The FW21 women’s A Show in the News takes the form of an international newspaper supplement accompanied by an exclusive excerpt from best-selling author Danielle Steele’s new novel.

2021
THE SURPLUS
PROJECT
2021

The Surplus Project launches with a series of Woven basket bags crafted using the excess high-quality leathers left over from previous LOEWE collections. The range highlights the increasing importance of environmentally conscious practices in the house’s seasonal collections, offering an opportunity to craft something beautiful from precious resources while increasing circularity and minimising waste.

2021
A NEW
AWARD
2021

The LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award is launched in collaboration with London-based non-profit contemporary art space Studio Voltaire. Created in response to the challenges facing emerging and under-represented artists in the face of COVID, the award gives seven artists two years of support through rent-free studio space, professional development opportunities, and a bursary.

2022
CELEBRATING
CHINESE
MONOCHROME
2022

The brand launches The Chinese Monochrome collection drawing inspiration from Ming and Qing dynasty monochrome ceramics, recolouring a series of iconic LOEWE bags, in an ode to the power and beauty of a single hue.​

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2023
STUDIO
GHIBLI
2023

The house launches its third and final collaboration with Studio Ghibli, the Howl’s Moving Castle capsule, following collections for animated classics My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Spirited Away (2001). Celebrating a shared commitment to craft and storytelling, the collections bring unforgettable characters and scenes of the films to life with an array of intricately crafted ready-to-wear, bags, and accessories.

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2023
ART &
MUSIC
2023

At the Superbowl​

Rihanna wears bespoke LOEWE at the Superbowl half-time show in Arizona.

Renaissance World Tour​

LOEWE creates a series of bespoke stage looks for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour.

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Lynda Benglis​

Pioneering American artist Lynda Benglis creates an installation of monumental bronze sculptures for the SS24 men's and women’s runway shows, as well as a limited-edition jewellery collection.

WORKSHOP
BEGINNINGS
ART &
MUSIC
A ROYAL
WARRANT
FIRST STEPS
IN BARCELONA
A NEW
FLAGSHIP
LEGENDARY
WINDOWS
TEACHING
LEATHER CRAFT
ARCHITECTURAL
INNOVATION
A NEW
CITY
THE
ANAGRAM
WOMENSWEAR
GOES
INTERNATIONAL
LAUNCHING
LOEWE
PERFUMES
INTRODUCING
MENSWEAR
INTERNATIONAL
EXPANSION
LAUNCHING
LOEWE
FOUNDATION
JOINING
LVMH
HONOURING
LOEWE
FOUNDATION
A NEW
ERA
REIMAGINING
LOEWE
LAUNCHING
THE PUZZLE
THE
CRAFT PRIZE
REDESIGNING
OUR STORES
LOEWE
HOME SCENTS
THE SURPLUS
PROJECT
STUDIO
GHIBLI
CELEBRATING
CHINESE
MONOCHROME
INNOVATING
THE RUNWAY
A NEW
AWARD
CELEBRATING
CRAFT