Nicholas Ghesquière’s Latest for Louis Vuitton

Nicholas Ghesquière has been at Louis Vuitton for almost 13 years, replacing Marc Jacobs, who created the brand’s first ready-to-wear collection and served as creative director starting in 1997. At the time of his appointment, Ghesquiere was the toast of the fashion world having shown a series of breathtaking collections for Balenciaga with pieces that fashion lovers obsess over to this day: those shearling jackets from Fall 2003, those metal-encrusted leggings from Spring 2007, all those draped satin looks from Fall 2009, Spring 2010’s motocross collection, those amazing jackets with the bars across the front and the teeny tiny shorts from Spring 2012, Spring 2003’s surf collection, those incredible floral looks from Spring 2008, the list goes on and on.

Then he went to Louis Vuitton and something shifted. The collections broadened and diversified. The outfits he creates not are often more experimental, less commercial, and yet one gets the sense that, broken up into their various parts and worn with more casual, everyday staples, the true specialness of the individual pieces would shine though. Even if that specialness sometimes feels a bit overwhelmed by the full-on styling of the runway.

And this collection certainly had some very cool pieces throughout. I personally really like the plaid mini skirt sets. I’m also really into those mixed media patchwork dresses. In fact, it would have been nice to see these themes developed even more. In his Balenciaga days, Ghesquière might have created two entire collections around these looks. But at Louis Vuitton, such specificity and focus has never really been the designer’s MO. He moves on from idea to idea like bee making its way from one flower to the next

The collection does include a few head scratchers: like those brown overalls with the fur underarms, or the wrinkly pedal pushers with the ruffled edges, or those striped pants with the knee pockets. But I’m sure the woman who is cool enough and rich enough to buy those particular pieces is also more than capable of wearing them to their best advantage.

Then there are those outfits from the finale: the ones with the giant sculptural shoulders. Set, as they are, in the geometric, moss-clad world of this season’s runway, they feel like a mashup of Mad Max and Roblox. Or a Ghesquière take on Rick Owens. Not necessarily what one would expect from a Louis Vuitton show, but you can’t say Ghesquière doesn’t keep things interesting.

And it is nice to see a designer of Ghesqiuère’s prodigious talents given seemingly endless free reign to explore his own whims. And there is something very cool about a lot of these clothes in the context of a fashion show or editorial, even if it is hard to imagine them working so well in the real world.

Then again, does it really matter if the clothes sell or not when everyone knows bags are Louis Vuitton’s bread and butter? And there were some really nice, commercially viable bags in this collection. As well as one that looked like Baba Yaga’s hut, which will surely become a collector’s item.

And the shoes felt both straightforward and very saleable, with their pointy toes and sturdy heels — a nice contrast and a grounding element for some of the more out-there ready-to-wear looks.

It’s a strange, intriguing, and surprising offering overall. And that’s exactly what you want from a Ghesqiuère collection. If all he did was quiet luxury like so many others, what a waste that would be.

Check out the rest of the collection below.

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