Loewe’s Spring Summer 2023 Shoes Were Made of Real Balloons

Both Jonathan Anderson‘s namesake JW Anderson line and his work for Loewe have earned him the reputation of fashion’s current king of the surreal. The Spanish luxury leather brand has given the British designer near carte blanche to showcase the most inventive pieces, especially within the realm of accessories. Most especially, in the realm of footwear.

That has included egg yolk heels, nail polish heels, rose petal heels, and so on. Even as Anderson has once more reinvigorated Loewe with a new look and focus on the body, the footwear has begun to take an even more interesting turn. The fall ’22 collection had leather boots bagged around the ankle and heeled sandals that looked like they were tied in a bow with Mylar. But the most exciting pieces were dresses and heels accented with 3D balloon shapes, from shoulders to bustiers, ankle straps to actual heels.

This time, the designer used real balloons for his heels. At the spring summer ’23 women’s runway show on Friday at Paris Fashion Week, Anderson sent models out in a pair of gigantic floppy pumps that, upon closer inspection, were actually made out of deflated balloons.

Anderson continued to explore the idea of inflation and deflation in the footwear, also introducing a series of pumps in glossy red, black and matte clay (all made of a durable rubber) that looked like the shoes had been inflated around the foot.

The idea of an inflated sense of nature also came into play with a series of artificial and exaggerated florals, which were applied to strappy sandals and also affixed to the body on ready-to-wear.