The vast expanse of Place Vendôme serves as a chic backdrop for Nicolas Ghesquière’s modern sophisticate.
The vast expanse of Place Vendôme serves as a chic backdrop for Nicolas Ghesquière’s modern sophisticate.
For two years, the grounds of the Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton, with its magnificent curved steel canopies rising above the tree tops, have served as the perfect backdrop for Nicolas Ghesquière’s exploration of futuristic dress codes for the Louis Vuitton woman. But with Louis Vuitton set to welcome another flagship in Place Vendôme, Ghesquière started the process early and moved his Fspring/summer 2017 staging away from the Fondation and into the yet-to-be-completed boutique.
The new store on 2 Place Vendôme holds particular significance for Louis Vuitton: It is mere steps from where the brand’s eponymous founder opened his first store in 1854 and peddled his sturdy, customisable trunks, thereby revolutionising the way people travelled the world. And if the Eiffel Tower is the soaring beacon of Paris, then Place Vendôme is the city’s glitzy heart. With Louis Vuitton’s heritage so tightly bound to Paris and Place Vendôme, the store’s strategic location sits where Louis Vuitton’s past, present and future converge. What better to drive home the point than a special showing within the store?
So on a cool October morning, with the square bathed in autumnal sunshine and the Vendôme’s column extending into the cloudless sky, the fashion set thronged into Louis Vuitton’s new home—a work-in-progress with its storeys-high hoarding overlooking the adjacent Rue Saint-Honoré. Inside this concrete shell, Ghesquière delivered a collection which, he later explained backstage, brought Louis Vuitton’s “contrast between high sophistication and casual luxury” to the fore.
Backed by an electronic soundtrack that featured sound bites from the 1984 French film, Rive Droite, Rive Gauche, Ghesquière kickstarted the proceedings with a slinky asymmetrical dress, waist held together with a practical looped belt. The other dresses that snaked down the catwalk were sliced in the same vein, but there was also an undeniable ’80s sentimentality to them. Credit must go to the strong shoulders and the occasional leather turbans that wrapped the heads of models, who walked up and down the two floors looking like time-travel warriors on a mission.
Ghesquière punctuated the selection of frocks with motorcycle jackets, leather bodysuits, t-shirts and skin-tight lace pants, each piece a treasured addition to a modern woman’s wardrobe as she discovers the many hidden treasures of Paris—maybe, even the world. He also paraded his tailoring prowess on grey or checked suits, but even those came calibrated with an experimental slant that, coupled with the rawness of the surroundings, merged into a superior collection that pointed Louis Vuitton’s way forward into the 21st century.
