JW Anderson

JW Anderson is the London label of Jonathan Anderson, and its accessories carry the same playful, design-led point of view as its runway. A bag is a strong first buy because it captures the house's distinctive hardware and proportions in a piece you will actually carry daily. Treat it as a design object you wear, rather than a logo flex.

JW Anderson is known for experimenting with gender and dress — Jonathan Anderson's work has long focused on unisex clothes and blurring traditional notions of masculinity and femininity. The label began with menswear in 2008 and added womenswear for autumn 2010. That fluid, idea-driven design is its signature.

JW Anderson was founded by Jonathan Anderson, who is originally from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland. He graduated from the London College of Fashion, briefly pursued acting, then studied menswear design and worked as a visual merchandiser at Prada before launching his own label. The brand is fully his creative vision.

Anderson established JW Anderson in London in 2008. It is a UK fashion label that started with a menswear line that year. Womenswear followed for autumn 2010, the same year the brand presented its first catwalk collection at London Fashion Week.

The label became far more widely known in Britain after Jonathan Anderson collaborated with Topshop in 2012, creating a limited-edition collection of clothing and accessories. Vogue covered its spring/summer collection that year, including paisley-print pyjamas that sold out shortly after launch. The Topshop tie-up was a real turning point.

In 2015, JW Anderson became the first brand ever to win both Menswear Designer of the Year and Womenswear Designer of the Year in the same year at The Fashion Awards. That double win cemented Anderson's standing at the front of contemporary fashion. It is the clearest marker of the label's influence.

Yes. In September 2013, LVMH acquired a minority stake in JW Anderson, and as part of that deal Jonathan Anderson was announced as creative director of the Spanish house Loewe. So the two are linked through Anderson himself and through LVMH's involvement. His JW Anderson ethos — including a focus on unisex design — carried into that wider work.

The label has a long list of collaborations, including Topshop (2012–2013), Versus Versace (2013), Uniqlo (2017 onward), Converse (2017) and Moncler (2020 onward). These tie-ins range from accessible high street to outerwear. They are an easy, lower-cost way to own a piece of Anderson's design.

In 2020, JW Anderson released the knitting pattern for the rainbow patchwork cardigan that musician Harry Styles wore in rehearsals for the Today Show, after recreating it became a DIY challenge on TikTok. Later that year the cardigan was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum as an item of cultural importance tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is one of the brand's most talked-about pieces.

Very — beyond clothes, the brand has staged exhibitions and projects exploring the body and culture. Its 2017 show Disobedient Bodies at The Hepworth Wakefield presented more than 100 works, including pieces by Issey Miyake and Yves Saint Laurent, and the label even gave the queer dating app Grindr exclusive livestreaming rights to its Autumn/Winter 2016 show. That appetite for ideas is core to the JW Anderson identity.