Type Anderson

Fashion’s most eagerly watched designer, Jonathan Anderson—who helms JW Anderson and Loewe—is a proud overachiever, but his most winning trait might just be his determination to share the spotlight

- Rosana Lai

“I know this sounds ridiculous, but recently I’ve been fascinated by the sound the wind makes when it goes through trees,” says Jonathan Anderson in a deep drawl, surprisingly sonorous given the sweet mien his baby-blue eyes and boy-band hair suggest. The Irish designer and I are in the middle of a Zoom call at 7:30 am UK time, talking about trees. “It’s the first time I worked out that it’s actually a collective of leaves making the sound, and I thought ‘What would it be like if I were to break that down in music for a show, to take a few sounds we’re familiar with and dissect them into something atmospheric, you know what I mean?’” The Covid-19 pandemic, while responsible for many horrors, has also provided some unexpected blessings. For the first time in seven years, Anderson is not on the Eurostar headed on his weekly journey from his Victorian home in east London to his Place Saint-Sulpice office in Paris. Instead, like almost everyone in the world, Anderson has spent much of his time in lockdown taking a magnifying glass to his surroundings.