Paris Fashion Week ended with a trip down memory lane. In celebration of his 10th anniversary as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of womenswear, Nicolas Ghesquière staged his latest collection in the Louvre’s Cour Carrée, the same place he presented his first collection exactly ten years ago, on 5 March 2014.
Much like the debut show back in 2014, a typewritten letter was placed on all 4000 seats – many of which were occupied by Vuitton employees. Last night he said, 'Ten years ago, you came to my first show for Louis Vuitton. I remember the feeling of “beginning”, the immense joy I felt to be among you. This joy is still here. Ten years later, this evening is a new dawn…'
It’s a genuine cause for celebration – in today’s pressurised economic climate, where it can feel like a revolving door of creative directors, few designers can claim to have worked at one of Europe’s top brands for 10 years. And there’s at least five more to go - Ghesquière renewed his contract back in 2023. Judging by the guests, the majority of whom were decked out in archival Ghesquière designs, he’s built both a loyal following of fashion fans and a commercial juggernaut.
Long-term LV face Emma Stone, whose lead performance in Poor Things has swept up during this year’s awards season, showed her support in an all-white look. All eyes will be on her Oscars attire this coming Sunday – no doubt custom Louis Vuitton. Cate Blanchett, Sophie Turner, Lashana Lynch and new brand ambassador Saorise Ronan also joined the throngs on the front row.
The show’s palette-cleansing opening looks combined technicality with sportswear; the anoraks and techy tracksuits looked cool and street ready. Then, ‘bearing witness to a decade of fashion’, he chose to reflect on key pieces from the archive – a Greatest Hits of sorts. The embroidered metallic jackets harked back to the futuristic frock coats from Spring’s 2018 collection. The bubble-hem, spring skirts, which bounced as models stomped the runway, recalled the spring 2021 show. Nearly all the looks were accompanied by ankle boots or chunky brogues.
The show notes read, ‘one detects a tinge of earlier affinities, felicitous imprints of beloved garments, and affection for a gesture, a cut or an embroidery. The imagination absorbs it all. What is familiar is renewed. Every tomorrow is a new day’. Ghesquière’s trick has long been making the past look like the future. Here’s to the next 10.
