At Louis Vuitton, models paraded on the chests that first made them famous

Towards the end of PFW, dramatic catwalks were the order of the day. There was Balenciaga’s gleaming wooden ‘table’ and, this morning (12.30am, our time), there was at Louis Vuitton, their house’s famous trunks, reportedly more than 1,000 of them, that formed the elevated runway. These were stacked—as if they were Jenga blocks—and arranged to form a collage of different surfaces and patterns, a patchwork that had the charm of vintage quilts, just a lot flatter. And the runway was raised as soon as the show started, like a trap floor stage. The orderly collage perhaps also reflected Nicholas Ghesquière’s hotch-potch of ideas, so varied that it was hard to pin them individually to exact sources. Perhaps, therein lies the appeal of LV’s womenswear. Every season, one can expect a jaunt, but never the destination.

This season, Mr Ghesquière continued with his visual amalgamations, but he did a switcheroo: He asked the atelier behind the flou (maker of dresses and such, using soft fabrics) to do the tailored garments and the tailleur (maker of more structured or ‘stiffer’ clothes) to produce the dresses. The results were ensembles that were neither too fluid nor too rigid. LV described them as “soft power”, as if communicating a cultural message (the company does aspire to be a “cultural brand”). Yet, they kept to the trends that have emerged this eason—shapes that are bolder and stronger, and unheralded. Into these, Mr Ghesquière simultaneously introduced the slightly offbeat and hints of the historical. The first few looks, for example, were coats that had what seems to be late-19th century balloon sleeves, but were somewhat deflated, which rather punctured the garments potential formality. This was more so when they went with bicycle shorts!

Mr Ghesquière’s designs have been described as “maximalist”, but it is not in the same vein as, say, the output of the house of Balmain. There is usually complex details to make out, but they do not overwhelm and they do not look like special qualities are needed to wear the clothes. Just gumption. And Mr Ghesquière needed no dramatic gestures to make his designs sing. Rather, he played with geometric forms and asymmetry of the bodice (such as slanted plackets) to effect compositions that were frequently unexpected. This season, we were taken by the last three looks’ boxy, painterly tops with the slanted neck openings, and worn with fringed skirts. To us, there was something post-Qing about them. And since we are pointing out potential Orientalism in the clothes, it was in the accessories too, such as the fan-shaped clutch Karl Lagerfeld would surely approve.

Thirty minutes before the Louis Vuitton livestream on YouTube, the message screen below it was filled with text from viewers (some 1.7K of them before the start) that typically read: “❤️❤️❤️❤️Lisa”. Some of the messages were written in Thai. Not surprising. Her home country has been immensely proud of Lalisa Manoban. And probably more so now that she is an LV brand ambassador and officially dating LVMH scion and CEO of TAG Heuer, Frédéric Arnault. Even the reception that Zendaya, who arrived five minutes earlier, with Law Roach very close by, received was more reserved in comparison. Lisa’s fans were screaming themselves hoarse. When the camera finally caught her, we saw that she wore a dark brown trench coat, under which was a bustier in similar color and a pair of mini-skirt in nut brown, secured with a grommeted belt. All four pieces were in leather. Lisa was attending an LV show and was outfitted by LV, but she was sure to look like a Rockstar, even a clichéd one.

Screen shot (top): louisvuitton/YouTube. Photos: Louis Vuitton