These images offer a rare look into the 180-year history of Spanish fashion house Loewe

The Spanish fashion house Loewe was founded in Madrid in 1846, ‘before the telephone, before the light bulb, before we walked on the moon’, as actor Antonio Banderas reminds us in a playful animated film released this week.

The occasion for the short is the house’s 180th anniversary, for which celebrations began earlier this year with the release of the ‘Amazona 180’ bag (a redux of the original 1960s ‘Amazona’ handbag) and continue this week with the release of a new Talia Chetrit-shot campaign starring actors Julia Garner, Sissy Spacek, Salma Abu Deif and Kara Wai, as well as model Giselle, a member of K-pop girl group Aespa, and artist Kara Walker. Meanwhile, Banderas, who was born in Málaga, Spain, provides the voiceover to the accompanying illustrated film.

Loewe marks 180 years in business

Each of the campaign stars brandishes one of Loewe’s memorable handbags, from the ‘Flamenco’ (a version of which was first launched in the 1980s) and the ‘Puzzle’ (2015, under former creative director Jonathan Anderson), to the new ‘Amazona 180’, which is the hero bag of current co-creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who held their acclaimed debut show last September.

Leather, of course, is at the heart of the Loewe tale: it began as a collective of leatherworkers in the Spanish capital in 1846, making it the second-oldest luxury house in the world, after Hermès, which was founded in 1837. In 1872, the collective was united under German merchant Enrique Loewe Roessberg, taking his name; later landmarks include being appointed supplier to the Spanish crown in 1905, and the establishment of the Loewe Foundation in 1988, which safeguards poetry, dance and art (the annual Loewe Craft Prize falls under the umbrella). Notable creative directors have included Narciso Rodriguez, Stuart Vevers and Jonathan Anderson, the last leaving for Dior in 2025 after an 11-year tenure.

Alongside the campaign and a special capsule collection – spanning leather goods and ready-to-wear, its pieces feature a lion motif, a reference to the meaning of ‘Loewe’ in German – Loewe has also opened up its photographic archive, allowing a rarely seen glimpse at its midcentury store design and furnishings, alongside lookbooks, catalogues and campaigns.

Explore the images below.