Skip to main content
BoF Logo

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

The BoF Podcast: Jonathan Anderson Says, ‘If It Feels Fake, I Don’t Want It’

The creative director of JW Anderson and Loewe talks to BoF Editor-at-Large Tim Blanks about the need for greater transparency in the fashion industry.
Jonathan Anderson | Photo: Scott Trindle
The author has shared a Podcast.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.

To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.

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."

The author has shared a YouTube video.You will need to accept and consent to the use of cookies and similar technologies by our third-party partners (including: YouTube, Instagram or Twitter), in order to view embedded content in this article and others you may visit in future.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

“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.

Subscribe to BoF Professional for unlimited access to BoF articles, plus exclusive benefits for members. For a limited time, enjoy a 25 percent discount on the first year of an annual membership, exclusively for podcast listeners. Simply, click here, select the Annual Package and use code PODCASTPRO at the checkout.

To contact The Business of Fashion with comments, questions, or speaker ideas please e-mail podcast@businessoffashion.com.

© 2024 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions

More from Luxury
How rapid change is reshaping the tradition-soaked luxury sector in Europe and beyond.

Marine Serre: From Radical to Pragmatist

Serre, who grew sales by 20 percent in 2023, has been named Pitti Uomo’s next guest designer. She’s using the opportunity to show her men’s collection for the first time.


view more

Subscribe to the BoF Daily Digest

The essential daily round-up of fashion news, analysis, and breaking news alerts.

The Business of Fashion

Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
CONNECT WITH US ON
BoF Professional - How to Turn Data Into Meaningful Customer Connections
© 2024 The Business of Fashion. All rights reserved. For more information read our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy and Accessibility Statement.
BoF Professional - How to Turn Data Into Meaningful Customer Connections