Q&a / Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey on Loewe and Fellow Travelers: the British heartthrob actor brought the glam factor to the Spanish luxury brand’s ‘Crafted World’ exhibition in Shanghai

Mar 25 , 2024

Actor Jonathan Bailey at Loewe’s exhibition “Crafted World” in Shanghai, on March 21. Photo: Handout

Bailey is best known for his role as Lord Anthony aka Viscount Bridgerton on the smash Netflix Regency romance drama series – whose third season is dropping in May and June, in 2 parts

The actor is a friend of Jonathan Anderson, Loewe’s creative director of 10 years, and attended the exhibition opening with other stars such as Sophie Wilde – so what does he think of the brand?

British actor Jonathan Bailey became a hot commodity after the smash success of Netflix romance drama Bridgerton, the early 19th-century Regency-era series that catapulted him and his fellow cast members from obscurity into household names when it debuted in 2020.

While most people know him as his character Lord Anthony, aka Viscount Bridgerton, it’s his role in American drama series Fellow Travelers that cemented his status as a bona fide leading man and truly revealed his acting chops.

Bailey’s searing portrayal of a gay activist alongside Matt Bomer in the Showtime series has won Bailey a Critics’ Choice Award and plenty of accolades, from the LGBTQ+ community – Bailey is openly gay – and beyond.

Matt Bomer (left) and Jonathan Bailey in a scene from Showtime series Fellow Travelers. Photo: Showtime

Spanning almost five decades, from the Lavender Scare and McCarthyism of the 50s to the heartbreaking Aids crisis of the 80s, shown through the lives of two male lovers, the mini series is a beautiful love story as well as a remarkable history lesson. (The Lavender Scare was a mass dismissal of homosexuals from government institutions that paralleled the anti-communist campaign of senator Joseph McCarthy.)

Bailey, who is getting ready to embark on the promotional tour of Bridgerton season three, which debuts in May and June in two parts, was recently in Shanghai for the opening of “Crafted World”, an exhibition held by Spanish luxury label Loewe to showcase its history and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of creative director Jonathan Anderson, a fellow Brit and friend of Bailey’s.

Charithra Chandran, Simone Ashley, Shelley Conn and Jonathan Bailey in Bridgerton. Photo: Netflix

On the night of the opening event, after Anderson gave Bailey a tour of the exhibition, we managed to grab the actor for a very quick chat.

Clad in a striped nautical jumper paired with army green trousers and paint-splattered shoes, all from Loewe, Bailey was extremely friendly and excited to share this moment with Anderson and the Loewe family.

Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe (left), with actor Jonathan Bailey and actress Sophie Wilde at the exhibition “Crafted World” in Shanghai, on March 21. Photo: Handout