Nicolas Ghesquiére mined the archives of the historic house of Louis Vuitton traveling back in time to the 60s, 70s, and 80s, all in one fell swoop. The show held in Louis Vuitton’s brand spanking new state-of-the-art, headquarters designed by Frank Gehry hummed with immense energy and excitement making this truly one of the most anticipated shows of the season. Preceding the show, a series of sci-fi futuristic swirling glass walls displayed a diverse cast of faces reciting lines from the 1984 David Lynch film “Dune, ” announcing “the journey starts here.”
The show opened with an airy, high-neck, white dress with intricate woven leather lattice work resembling the texture of lace. Over the course of the first part of the show a series of white, three quarter sleeve dresses and blouses were mixed with Japanese denim and phenomenal leather pieces in bright orange, red or stark black leather.
The cool retro A-line silhouettes continued throughout the show. These dresses were played against geometrically patterned lacquered eel skin offered in two ways: 60s mod or fluid and girly with a hint of the 70s. Some mod dresses came pieced together in horizontal bright orange and black stripes or diagonal stripes of navy and red eel skin. There was leather, pieced together in bright stripes on a red preppy shirtdress or cut into thin strips and woven with metal rings in a series of beautiful, intricately cut multi-textured crocheted leather dresses.
Ghesquiere built on the clever wardrobe staples from his fall 2014 collection for Louis Vuitton with navy blazers, cargo jackets and a light weight pea coat. What came next were trompe l’oeil sequined mini-dresses with wavy vertical stripes in red, grey or rose mixed with white resembling an exotic animal print. From there the show moved into stained glass printed velvets on cropped flared trousers and quilted, biker jackets, along with micro-dresses covered in shiny black sequins.
Ghesquiere continued to explore facets of the 70s with richly patterned vintage prints on A-line skirts and high-waisted cropped pants. A print on white leather displaying beauty and every day products including, lipstick, nail polish, telephones and cars —alluded to Ghesquiere’s wry humor and dry wit.
If the aim was to transport the audience into an alternate universe, the Louis Vuitton Foundation is certainly the mothership capable of making the trip. Ghesquiere’s latest collection for the house wasn’t so much a journey through space, but rather a voyage through time, daringly taking us in a new direction.
