《LOEWE @ SS2012 Ad Campaign》

LOEWE latest SS2012 ad campaign has recruited the smouldering model and artist Saskia de Brauw to embody the passionate Loewe woman. Saskia, who also closed the spring/summer Loewe catwalk show, appears alongside the Spanish model Cristian Cruz. The campaign builds on the success of the previous season, with which it maintains a strong sense of continuity. The same location has been used: the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, a century-old landmark where the Hollywood star Ava Gardner would drink with Ernest Hemingway in the Fifties and Sixties, after making the city her home. Her rock and roll antics at the Ritz have since become part of local mythology. Both she and Hemingway were Loewe customers, a natural connection to the house that the creative team behind the campaign was keen to explore.

This season, the focus of the campaign moves from the bedrooms of the Ritz to its corridors with their baroque carpets and the grandure of the Goya Hall. The combination of location and chiarascuro lighting - a nod to the moody canvases of Spain’s Tenebrist artists in the 17th century such as Jusepe de Ribera - conspire to create a luxurious sense of mystery and intrigue. Once again, the campaign has been shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Two of the most powerful figures in the industry, they have demonstrated their instinct for narrative in fashion photography with a series of images that read like stills from a glamorous movie. Working alongside Mert and Marcus were their trusted collaborators Paul Hanlon and Lucia Pieroni on hair and make-up respectively. Overseeing the art direction was Katie Grand, stylist and editor in chief of the fashion biannual Love.‘The fact that Saskia is 30 years old and a grown-up woman was an important factor in her casting,’ says Loewe’s creative director Stuart Vevers. ‘She maintains the Loewe tradition of having a woman who is self-possessed, striking, sophisticated and strong.’The bags featured in the campaign are the Amazona, the Flamenco and the Granada - Loewe’s new classics - and, from the men’s line, the Vigo. ‘But in creating this shoot we wanted the atmosphere of the images to be more important than the product,’ says Stuart. ‘The dark passion of the shoot says as much about Loewe this season as the bags and clothes themselves.’In several of the images Saskia is wearing leather clothing from the spring/summer collection and little else. ‘We wanted to show plenty of leather on skin,’ says Stuart, ‘to underline the softness and sensuality of the leather.’ The campaign was launched on the 19th January 2012 globally on the new Loewe website http://www.loewe.com/ which goes online on the same date.