LOEWE Spring Summer 2023 Campaign

A reflection on the act of posing as a form of acting and impersonating that brings to life items of clothing and accessories: the LOEWE SS23 women’s campaign, shot by David Sims, features LOEWE Global Brand Ambassador Taylor Russell in an array of bodily gestures that maximize the idea of body language as a way to promote product. 

It is a study in the making, a depiction of the process, set in an impromptu ambiance or against a white limbo. Is it reality or illusion? 
The question remains deliberately unanswered. Taylor demonstrates her acting prowess in front of the camera as she sits on the floor, reclines on a sofa in the company of the Paseo Bag, an elegant shape in nappa leather featuring distinctivesoft pleats and threaded handles, exposes the virtues of the Goya Puffer bag, looks straight into the lens in a pixilated jumper like she was herself a cut-out. In one image, she is actually a cut-out. 

Again: is it reality or is it illusion? The set-up is made glaringly visible: backdrops are taped on the wall or laid on the sofa, a carpet is going askew. It all looks like a rehearsal of sorts, frozen midway: a raw depiction of what it is like to take a picture. 
Accessories are protagonists in the still life images, which recall classic natura morta paintings set against dramatic black backdrops and interspersed with antique silver tableware and sculptures in age-worn marble. 

The shimmering metal of chandeliers and teapots create a play of reflections, distorting halos and details of the LOEWE items that are mirrored in them—the Paseo Bag, the Wave mask sunglasses, the COMIC foam Shoe, the Goya Puffer pleated bag, the Goya Puffer bag —creating a dialogue with their expert craftsmanship. The effect is suspended and puzzling, the mise en scene bluntly revealed for what it is: a mise en scene.