Loewe is marking its 180th anniversary with a new global campaign, an anniversary capsule collection, a special-edition magazine and an animated short film narrated by Antonio Banderas, the LVMH-owned maison confirmed Monday. The activation, anchored by the LOEWE Spring Summer 2026 campaign, rolls out the week of June 1, 2026 and marks the first major brand moment from new creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez since their arrival from Proenza Schouler.
The Loewe 180th anniversary campaign 2026 was photographed by Talia Chetrit and stars actress Julia Garner, model Giselle, actress Salma Abu Deif and Hong Kong star Kara Wai, alongside cultural figures including actress Sissy Spacek and artist Kara Walker. Loewe Magazine Issue 11, titled “180 Years of Craft,” follows on June 15, 2026. WWD first reported the activation details.
Image: Courtesy of LOEWE
Campaign Overview
The 180th anniversary push is structured as a four-part activation rather than a single campaign drop. Imagery from Talia Chetrit, an anniversary capsule collection, the brand’s magazine and the animated short film land in sequence through June. The campaign is positioned as the launch pad for McCollough and Hernandez’s vision at the Madrid-founded house.
The pair’s debut runway moment, the Spring/Summer 2026 show, leaned into Spanish references and high craft while pulling toward sportswear-inflected silhouettes. Leather remained the dominant material on the runway, reinforcing Loewe’s historical identity as a bag-led house. The anniversary moment arrives amid recent Loewe brand moves, including the maison’s expanding sports and cultural partnerships.
Creative Direction: McCollough and Hernandez’s Vision
In a statement, McCollough and Hernandez framed the campaign as a continuation, not a rupture. “It articulates an energy we recognize as intrinsic to LOEWE—joy, sensuality, and a modernity that feels instinctive rather than imposed,” the designers said.
“Building a tight visual language that’s all our own: confident, playful, sunlit, and positive.”
— Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Creative Directors, LOEWE
The hire follows Jonathan Anderson’s exit and slots into a broader pattern of new creative direction at luxury maisons this cycle. McCollough and Hernandez join a wave of new creative director appointments in 2026 tasked with reframing heritage brands for the next decade.
Campaign Cast: Julia Garner, Sissy Spacek and Global Ambassadors
The cast list mixes commercial reach with cultural credibility. Julia Garner anchors the campaign as a brand ambassador, alongside Giselle, Salma Abu Deif and Kara Wai. The supporting cultural cast features Sissy Spacek, the Oscar-winning actress known for “Carrie” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and Kara Walker, the American artist recognized for her large-scale cut-paper works.
The casting choices read as deliberate. By pairing global ambassadors with figures from film and contemporary art, Loewe is positioning the anniversary moment beyond a standard fashion drop.
The Amazona 180: Reinterpreting a Legacy Bag
Central to the launch is the Amazona 180, a reissue of one of the brand’s defining handbags. The original Amazona debuted in 1975, designed for women entering public and professional life in greater numbers. The new version arrives in super-soft leather and suede, with a single top handle, and is built to be worn slouched and open, with crossbody or short straps for updated functionality.
The bag appears in campaign imagery alongside the Flamenco clutch and the Puzzle, two other pillar styles in the Loewe leather portfolio. The reissue underscores the brand’s bag-first commercial identity and arrives as luxury houses continue to lean on heritage leather goods. The reissue lands in the same season as a broader reshuffle of luxury leather goods appointments across competing maisons.
Anniversary Capsule Collection and Animated Film
The anniversary capsule collection is built around lion motifs, a nod to the brand’s name — Loewe is the German word for lion. The motif is executed in beads, intarsia, leather charms and on bag interiors across the capsule. The release joins a season heavy on luxury capsule collections this season from competing houses.
The animated short film, narrated by Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, frames the brand’s age in historical terms. The voiceover notes that Loewe predates the light bulb, the telephone and the moon landing — a positioning play that ties the anniversary to deep craft heritage rather than a single product launch.
180 Years of Craft: Brand History Milestones
Loewe was founded in 1846 in Madrid as a leather workshop and is billed as the second oldest luxury fashion house. The brand’s timeline tracks a Madrid leather workshop into a global LVMH name.
- 1846: Founded in Madrid as a leather workshop.
- 1872: German merchant Enrique Loewe Roessberg unifies artisans under the Loewe name.
- 1905: Becomes official supplier to the Spanish crown.
- 1965: Introduces ready-to-wear.
- 1975: Amazona bag launches.
- 1977: Loewe creates a special-edition Ford Fiesta.
- 1982: Andy Warhol and Keith Haring attend the brand’s NYC store opening.
- 1988: The Loewe Foundation is established to support craftsmanship and the arts.
The house now operates as an LVMH maison, sitting in the group’s fashion and leather goods division. The anniversary push lands at a moment of broader strategic and creative reshuffling across the luxury sector. Recent fashion house leadership changes and signals on luxury market performance in 2026 have set a competitive backdrop for the launch, with rival LVMH house collections also rolling out major moments this season. For Loewe, the 180-year mark is both a heritage flex and McCollough and Hernandez’s opening pitch to the market.
