Loewe Spring Summer 2026: A Study in Surface and Submersion

The first campaign for Loewe under Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez has arrived to a distinctly warm reception online, and with reason. It is striking, controlled and visually assured. Tiled backdrops, the gloss of water, slicked hair and saturated colour create an environment that feels immersive, almost aquatic. There is a tangible sense of humidity and reflection, of surface tension held in suspension. The campaign exists inside a pool, inside a bathhouse, within a liminal tiled world that feels both intimate and deliberately staged.

There are moments of real potency. A red sock shoe submerged beneath water is genuinely arresting, its translucence shifting against the pool floor and holding the eye longer than expected. A shot of a woman seen from above, legs crossed and gaze lowered, carries an architectural elegance aligned with Loewe’s cerebral core. The underwater elements introduce intrigue, while the geometry of the tiles brings dimensional clarity. These are images that linger.

And yet, for all its compositional precision, something remains just beneath the surface.

On the runway, the collection delivered strong clothes without heavy world building. That restraint felt appropriate in that setting. In campaign form, however, there is space to construct myth, to shape narrative and invite the viewer fully into an emotional landscape. This chapter reads more as a study in mood than a fully realised story. The energy is sun drenched, tactile and faintly erotic, as described in the press release, but the emotional temperature does not quite move beyond atmosphere. We are given gloss and tension, texture and sheen, but not yet the stakes that anchor memory.

The decision to cast models rather than celebrities is refreshing. In an era saturated with campaigns built on recognisable faces, this approach restores a sense of creative openness. Models offer projection. They arrive without the weight of interviews, viral moments or established narratives. That freedom, however, demands authorship in return. It asks the house to define who these women are within its universe, to sculpt character and allow vulnerability, desire or contradiction to surface.

Given Loewe’s longstanding dialogue with art and artists, the absence of deeper emotional tension feels notable. The house has historically aligned itself with conceptual rigour and expressive depth. Here, the tiled pool, the suggestion of wetness and the interplay of skin and leather hint at that potential. They invite immersion. Instead, the images hover.

As a first chapter, it is undeniably beautiful. It establishes tone, palette and a sensual visual language. With water as its central metaphor, the campaign feels poised on the edge of submersion. The question now is whether the next instalment will take us fully under, allowing audiences to inhabit this new world rather than observe it from above.

The debut collection by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez was photographed by Talia Chetrit. The Spring Summer 2026 collection launches on February 26 at loewe.com.