Loewe marks 180 years with capsule collection and anniversary campaign

Loewe did not mark its 180th year with a discreet nod to the archive. It staged a full-throttle luxury exercise in legacy, rolling product, image-making, print and film into one anniversary machine built to remind shoppers that heritage can still sell.

At the center is a capsule anchored by the Flamenco, Puzzle and Amazona 180 bags, plus lion-motif pieces that lean into the house’s leather-first identity. Loewe says the lion detail is a direct reference to its own name, German for lion, and the symbolism works because the brand has never been about empty ornament. Its story begins in a small leather workshop in Madrid, and the anniversary framing keeps returning to craftsmanship, leather excellence and a playful house spirit rather than museum-piece nostalgia.

The sharpest commercial move is the Amazona 180. First introduced in 1975, the bag returns as a softened, sexier proposition under Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who reworked it for their debut work at Loewe. That matters because anniversary products can often feel over-literal, but this one has real wardrobe relevance: a practical shoulder bag with enough shape to register, enough ease to feel current, and enough history to justify the headline. In a market crowded with “archive revivals,” Loewe is offering a bag with actual cultural memory.

The campaign, shot by Talia Chetrit, gives the rollout its glossy, contemporary edge. Julia Garner, Salma Abu Deif, Giselle, Kara Wai, Sissy Spacek and Kara Walker appear across the anniversary imagery, an unusually eclectic cast that broadens Loewe’s visual language beyond a single age group or geography. The campaign is paired with an animated film narrated by Antonio Banderas, extending the message into motion and performance. This is how major houses now package legacy: not as a single ad, but as an ecosystem.

Loewe is also folding in print with a special publication, “180 Years of Craft,” appearing in issue 11 of Loewe Magazine on June 15. The magazine-level treatment gives the celebration more than a retail function, and the historical context strengthens the case: Enrique Loewe Roessberg unified the artisans under his name in 1872, the house became an official supplier to the Spanish crown in 1905, introduced ready-to-wear in 1965, made a special-edition Ford Fiesta in 1977, drew Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to its New York store opening in 1982, and established the Loewe Foundation in 1988. The result is a birthday package with a clear point of view: Loewe is not simply honoring its past, it is monetizing it with precision.