Inspired by outdoor pursuits, when Jonathan Anderson launched the new Eye/LOEWE/Nature collection in January last year, he sent HERO Winter Annual 2019 cover star Josh O’Connor into the wilds of Spain’s Cap de Creus. One year later and the UK actor finds himself hiking through the misty foothills of Japan’s Mount Fuji, traversing through city izakayas and rural ryokans, ancient bamboo groves, cedar trees and waterfalls to reach Lake Ashi where he canoes and camps overnight.

Photographed by Gray Sorrenti, the imagery highlights the Loewe man’s sense of adventure and quest for nature’s recharge: escaping the hustle and bustle of Tokyo for a stripped-back lifestyle, all the while highlighting the technical aspect of the Eye/LOEWE/Nature SS20 collection – including pullover parkas, durable workwear jackets, polos and a new line of tees featuring watercolour prints of landscapes.

‘I think Eye/LOEWE/Nature shows how I see the Loewe man: he is kind of day-to-day, but at the same time wants to experiment,” says Anderson. “In a weird way there is a conservatism to him, but there is an eccentricity inside.” Given this explanation, it’s clear why the designer selected O’Connor for the role, growing up around his grandfather’s art studio in Yorkshire, the actor has always felt a close affinity towards nature and the outdoors. “I can 100 precent see myself moving out and finding some space that feels more connected to landscape and nature,” O’Connor tells us in his HERO Winter Annual 2019 cover interview, “I feel so distant from it now. My folks live in the countryside and whenever I go home it is a detox, you sip in the air… you feel far more relaxed.”

The Eye/LOEWE/Nature SS20 campaign is set to be collated as a limited-edition soft-cover publication designed by M/M (Paris).