When it comes to branding, Loewe is on top of it all. Is it enough to call Loewe a fashion house when it has dabbled in floristry, expanded its homeware range, and introduced an annual prize for craftsmanship? The brand takes it a step further by turning classic book titles into Loewe-branded limited edition collectibles, as seen on the autumn/winter 2018 campaigns for both menswear and womenswear.
These are not the same hardcover books you probably last read for English literature class. Each of the six books has been repackaged and reworked to visually fit into Loewe's brand language. For one, the books are bound in cloth like the many campaign publications released every season since Jonathan Anderson became creative director of the brand. The font used on the covers is the same as the Loewe brand logo. And constant collaborator Steven Meisel's archive editorial shots are used as the cover images, breathing new life and a more fashion slant to the literary classics.
Dorian Gray is depicted as a glossy model who's exercising, in a shot previously used in the June 2006 issue of Vogue Italia, while a June 2010 editorial photo captures the mood of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The other four titles in the limited edition set are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. What's unchanged, of course, is the content—same classic stories but stylishly upgraded.
Loewe Classics will be made available in a limited edition box set in select stores this August 2018.
