Meet the Maestros: Liberty’s Finest Artisan Brands
A home for the maestros of design and masters of craft
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Meet the Maestros: Liberty’s Finest Artisan Brands
A home for the maestros of design and masters of craft
This season we bring the skill of our fashion makers to the fore. Timeless styles born from artisanal craft, made with techniques and practices honed over a lifetime: stories of design expertise distilled into each garment.
Join us at Liberty as we shine the spotlight on our contemporary icons of style: from the sculptural silhouette play of Jil Sander’s minimalism to the effervescence of Dries Van Noten and the artisan mastery of LOEWE.
In the seams of these contemporary heirlooms, explore masterclasses in detail and design: crafted creations to be worn for decades, destined to adorn the archives of the curated wardrobe. Here, we shine a light on a selection of the artisan names that call Liberty home.
LOEWE
Led by Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE’s Spanish roots lie in artisanal, luxury leather making. Anderson describes craft as “the essence” of LOEWE, with a community of highly skilled, master artisans using their skills and savoir-fair in the creation of LOEWE’s signature styles.
At the LOEWE School of Leather in Madrid, the brand trains the next generation of masterful leather crafters, ensuring that new techniques and innovative methodologies are developed alongside traditional skills.
Beyond their leather expertise, LOEWE’s focus on craft reaches into each and every garment created – embodying the house’s spirit of artisanal ingenuity stitch by stitch.
Jil Sander
Founded in German city of Hamburg in 1968, Jil Sander’s eponymous founder didn’t show her first collection for the brand until 1973 when her minimal, elegant and functional debut collection kick-started a new approach to womenswear design.
Today, the brand’s ethos of purity in form, excellence in materials and innovation in design rings just as true as it did in its first collection. Now based in Milan and led by Lucie and Luke Meier, craftsmanship lies at the heart of each of the brand’s creations. With each item crafted around minimal sculptural principals and created by highly skilled artisans, Jil Sander is also involved in projects to support the continuation of luxury Italian craftsmanship, ensuring the country’s legacy of artisan making continues well into the future.
Stella McCartney
With an array of iconic silhouettes and cult creations, Stella McCartney crafts each item at the intersection of style and sustainability. With an array of commitments aiming to lessen the environmental impact of their styles, the brand is also at the vanguard of new material development – seeking alternatives to products traditionally used in luxury styles. Proudly described as pioneering a conscious movement in luxury, their timeless styles are crafted to last a lifetime.
Dries Van Noten
Third-generation tailor Dries Van Noten trained at the famed Royal Academy of Arts in Antwerp, Belgium – beginning a story of artisan design and craft that has spanned almost four decades. Originally making his name part of the Antwerp Six, his pioneering, cerebral designs have reshaped the fashion landscape with their bold, effervescent and intricately crafted details.
While Dries himself recently retired from his eponymous label, his legacy of experimentation and daring continues through the brand’s new creative director, Julian Klausner, his long-time collaborator.
Vivienne Westwood
The original punk pioneer and British icon Vivienne Westwood has a style like no other. Beloved by many for its eclectic, enigmatic and rule breaking garments, the late Dame Vivienne’s ethos remains a powerful design principle for the brand.
A fan of the unorthodox, the brand focuses on exceptional quality and overlooked materials, most notably using Harris Tweed for its iconic kilts and tweeds. Woven in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, this handwoven tweed encapsulates Vivienne Westwood’s focus on excellence and craft in every piece.
