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LONDON, United Kingdom — The world is on a cliff edge, said Jonathan Anderson, creative director of JW Anderson and Loewe.
“Now is the moment that we can forge a new type of reality… there’s going to be big learnings from this,” he told BoF Editor-at-Large Tim Blanks in the latest edition of the BoF Podcast. “If we go back to where we were before… it would not have been worthwhile.”
While stores across the globe have closed their doors to curb the spread of the virus and government-imposed lockdown measures continue, Anderson, who typically works across London, Spain and Paris, has found that this period of self-isolation has provided an opportunity for the world — and the fashion industry — to press pause and reflect on the way it operates.
“You have to get things wrong and you have to experiment… we need to start looking at it in a balanced way for long-term solutions, not PR solutions,” he said. For Anderson, fashion is not going to return to a pre-crisis normal, but that may not be a bad thing. The pace of the industry, which has been driven by a proliferation of collections and fashion shows, may slow. Designers need more time to process what they have created and to work on longer-term projects without the constant appetite and pressure for newness, he said.
“I feel like the race is now over,” he said. “It’s about digesting and being honest with ourselves about what is right for you. I think the biggest thing [I’ve learned] over the last few months is that what is right for me and… the brands that I work for is that all that matters.”
Now more than ever, during this time for unprecedented uncertainty, it is important for fashion to embrace a greater sense of authenticity and be more personal. “Fashion is going to have to pull down the veil a bit… we are so shrouded in the idea of not being transparent because transparency scares us,” he said. “If you’re trying to be something you’re not, then I don’t think it’s going to work anymore. It can’t be fake. If it feels fake I don’t want it, I can’t engage with it.”
Tune into the BoF Podcast to hear more from Anderson and Blanks, who cover the process of designing remotely and more.
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