It was a show that fused fashion and art in the French Riviera. Louis Vuitton Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquière chose the Marguerite and Aimé Maeght Foundation, a private foundation showcasing modern and contemporary art near the hilltop village of Saint-Paul de Vence, to showcase his fifth and undoubtedly most exciting collection to date, supported by friends of the house such as Emma Stone, Sienna Miller and Jennifer Connelly.
Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019. Images: InDigital.
“I’ve known this place for 25 years and I love coming here regularly. It has a beautiful family history, a particular story about passionate gallerists who, along with all the artists for whom they were both friends and patrons, invented an extraordinary place for artistic dialogue,” said Ghesquière. “You can see in these enduring works all their complicity and artistic flow. It’s an intelligent, beautiful site. A place that has spirit, where installations have a special rapport with nature and the seasons.”
Models weaved through the impressive Joan Miró “Labyrinth” in the museum’s gardens, to a musical backdrop composed by the famed French artist Woodkid, as Jennifer Connelly’s voice boomed throughout the space, reading extracts from Grace: A Memoir, the biography of Ghesquière’s friend and collaborator on the collection, Grace Coddington.
It seems the two have a shared love for animals and, come October 2018, expect to see an epidemic of the capsule collection bags based on the sketches Coddington creates of her cats. “My collaboration with Nicolas and his team at Louis Vuitton has been so much fun. I hope it will be a dream come true for Pumpkin, Blanket and Nicolas’s dog – it certainly is for me. It started with our love for animals, it’s where Nicolas and I really connect beyond fashion,” said Coddington in a statement.
Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019. Images: InDigital.
But let’s get back to the clothes – for they were breathtakingly brilliant. There was an altogether cooler vibe than the previous seasons; a more refined big brother, perhaps, as Ghesquière firmly plants his feet in the heritage house. Bouncing between eras like a firework, it was hard to keep track of the influence, which was, of course, all part of the ride. There were acid washed denims and exuberant feathered tops paired with bohemian cut-off shorts in unexpected color spectrums, which led to clever oversized cutting techniques with a definite nod to the ’80s. There was also intricate embroidery and handicraft from the ’70s topped off with thigh-high black leather boots that are sure to be big hitters with the style set.
Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019. Images: InDigital.
Artisanal, eclectic and thoroughly unexpected, this felt like a new sense of freedom for Ghesquière’s hopefully long reign at the throne of Vuitton. Certainly, expectations for Cruise are now competitively high. So much so, we often forget that we are there to look at a collection rather than a magnificent spectacle. This time Ghesquière brought us both.
Now Read: Cruise 2019: Dior Takes Style Cues from Mexico’s Rodeo
