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Show Report

Show Report: Louis Vuitton S/S 18 Womenswear

by Lucy Norris on 4 October 2017

Lucy Norris reports on the Louis Vuitton S/S 18 show.

Lucy Norris reports on the Louis Vuitton S/S 18 show.

This was the second time that Louis Vuitton had showed its womenswear show at The Louvre. For S/S 18, we went deeper into the building's bowels - so to speak. Running along a corridor, we were in the vaults. The runway was lit up like a light box and the commissioned soundscape orchestrated by Woodkid repeatedly pierced the room with intensity that shook the nerves. Entitled 'Otto', the soundtrack featured a women's' choir singing up against a digital synthesised children's choir. This collection was about a meeting of times, and the force of the voices within the vocal as they sang 'Otto' illustrated the power of both youth, technology and experience. The voices which seemed to be competing with each other tapped into the power of history itself. The show notes talked of The Louvre being 'a location where history is palpable.'

Wanting to play around with the idea of 'anachronism', Nicolas Ghesquière fulfilled his mission of creating 'wardrobes that transcended Time.' Yet, within the same moment, true to the meaning of the word 'anachronism', he showed us the kind of historical references that were so 'over there' that it made our time in history feel ironically alien too. Romantic, off-the-shoulder dresses were combined with sneakers that were described as being 'from another world', yet they were the most a-typical future-now thing about the look. Whilst on a trip to the MET Museum in New York, Nicolas Ghesquière became inspired by 18th century aristocratic French garments. The question was asked; 'Might it be possible to awaken the clothes of long ago eras and infuse them with the spirit of today?' The answer is yes. This was Nicolas Ghesquière's best collection for the house to date. And it was the most 'him' of all of them too. Not only that, it was the best collection of the entire week. The entire season. Sexy, sci-fi, theatrical, sporty, cool, light breezy and irreverent, it was all things in perfect measure. Confident, casual, relaxed yet dynamic, the edit was just right - not too layered, not too clean. This will be an influential collection. Its style and attitude will be appropriated both by other designers and young kids who will style things in new ways. In the way that you don't need Vetements to wear Vetements, or you would get a fake Louis Vuitton graffiti bag, back in the day when Marc Jacobs was here, it's time for Ghesquière - one of the very few great designers of our time - to wield his influence once more. The frock coats were so ornate, that they will never be effectively copied but the high street will take the idea of wearing future focused sneakers, silky boxers and period dress style sparkle for sure. And that s no bad thing. As Jacobs once said, if you're being copied, good. It means you're important. Jacobs is more a stylist of pop culture than a designer. Ghesquière is a true designer. He didn't just synthesise moments at Balenciaga. He created them. And now it's time for him to create them once more. Yes, the brief is different here. But he can do it. And now he has.

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