Confident debut by Proenza Schouler duo gives Loewe a quirky new beat

The American duo brought a New York-clean pragmatism to Madrid-born Loewe. Their reputation — color, texture, sculptural ease, and an It-bag instinct — set expectations. They met them.

Paris is in rare churn, with 14 debuts on the calendar. Jonathan Anderson opened at Dior womenswear; Miguel Castro Freitas bowed at Mugler; now Hernandez and McCollough step in at Loewe. With so many handovers, audiences are judging fast — on clarity, character and what will actually sell.

They opened with leather. A black jacket with a faint hourglass, saluted the craft heritage and set the brief: form led by material. The leather and cloth were deliberately stiff, holding their shape. The effect was chic and slightly Barbie-like, but never gimmicky. Lines stayed clear and silhouette did the talking.

Playfulness came in tight, controlled doses. Two-tone tights with different-colored shoes kept the humor dry. A 3-D-printed “towel” dress snapped phones into the air — an easy joke on first look, a disciplined column on second. That is Hernandez and McCollough’s signature move: novelty anchored to a workable cut.

The Pedro Almodóvar moment

Spain wasn’t a footnote. Midway through, a loose, blazing sweater in “Almodóvar red” swept by, and filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar leaned forward and pointed, smiling. A crisp, human beat — America’s new chapter at Loewe saluting a Spanish giant, and the giant nodding back.

Bags — the Loewe engine — balanced sense and mischief. Clean totes and everyday bags handled the baseline. Then the tease: a glass clutch with gallery polish and a mussel-adorned bucket bag that turned seaside kitsch into a luxury wink(le).

The strongest passages mixed structure with give. Silhouettes were lightly carved at the waist. Leather shaped the torso, then eased in motion. When the stiffness worked best, it suggested a tongue-in-cheek edge without tipping into costume.

Anderson leaves big shoes to fill

The comparison with Anderson is unavoidable. He turned Loewe into a laboratory — craft prizes, artist tie-ins, surreal flourishes that sometimes resisted daily life. Hernandez and McCollough brought it back to clothes that move. The quirk remained, but it served the garment. The temperature read more New York than Paris: edited, pragmatic, ready to sell. In this market, that is a smart pivot.

This was not an attempt to out-Anderson Anderson, nor a retreat into basics. The show argued for pieces that wear easily, with enough oddity to spark want.

A debut sets coordinates, not conclusions. Quirky, more commercial, and confident. The bow was happy, and the room stood.

Loewe has a new cadence — brisk, precise, and ready to walk off the runway and onto the street.