Louis Vuitton: Techno medieval mode

The house of Louis Vuitton built its early reputation on trunks, and they were the basis of a thrilling, maximalist show inside a courtyard of the Louvre, the final official show of Paris Fashion Week. 

In a powerful display, Vuitton brought down the curtains on the four-week international women’s ready-to-wear runway season that began officially in America with a Ralph Lauren show in a horse-farm in the Hamptons.
 
Guests arriving at LV discovered a runway that was a patchwork pattern of trunks, suitcases, briefcases made in three huge sections, which suddenly rose up five feet, even as the first brave model marched down the catwalk.

Vuitton’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière opened with a great series of gilded and striped doublets, worn with just T-shirts or chemises – and paired with extreme sport leggings; all anchored by futuristic clogs and running shoes, or weird and wonderful new leather duster booties.
 
He mixed up faux-chain mail, an oversize sweatshirt, tulle layered mini-skirts and studded britches with dangling necklaces. It should have been a complete mess, but it looked great. Techy mesh dresses in abstract big cat prints, studded in semi-circles were pretty remarkable, as were his new one-legged dress – meaning a stiff leather A-Line cocktail worn over one-legged silk pants. All perfect counterpoints to monogram bags, patent leather totes or latest padded LV lock handbag.
 
Ghesquière certainly likes to experiment, throwing together epochs, eras and emotions; almost challenging any other designer to make a bigger impact. Fashion is, of course, an industry where ego is essential, and the claim to hold the biggest show of the season much sought after.
 
Where Chanel controls the Grand Palais – it even has a long-term deal with the iconic exhibition hall. Vuitton, more or less, from a fashion point of view, owns the Louvre. While Vuitton’s cousin inside luxe superpower LVMH, Dior, has of late favored the Rodin Museum across the Seine.

See catwalk

Vuitton’s choice spot in the Louvre complex is the Cour Carrée, or Square Courtyard, to install humongous sets – like this season’s giant black box, a David Copperfield-worthy elevated runway.
 
But where Chanel, and indeed Dior, or Ralph Lauren for that matter, sell their fashion collections to tens of thousands avid fans; Vuitton sells to mere thousands. Sometimes one thinks hundreds, considering how relatively difficult it is to find Vuitton women’s fashion in major international department stores. Unlike its recent menswear – both by Virgil Abloh and Pharrell Williams.
 
That said, Ghesquière is a proper fashion scientist – conjuring up unlikely fabric blends, Merlin-like visual portions and historical mashups. So, even though he doesn’t actually dress that many people, one must appreciate that Nicolas is a visionary, foreseeing a brave new world. Quite an accomplishment in and of itself.