March 11, 2021 |
If there’s one theme that’s shot through digital fashion week, it has been a collective longing for the things we’ve missed during Covid. Travel, dressing up and going out with friends, live performances and cultural experiences – the pent-up desire for them is huge. In the mean-time, we have our screens. The Louvre is an iconic destination for anyone visiting Paris but its doors have been closed during Covid, so it was a vicarious thrill to go inside with Louis Vuitton. Nicolas Ghesquière turned the empty galleries of its Denon Wing, which houses ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan sculptures into the runway for his AW21 digital show. His models catwalked through the galleries to the sound of a concert recording of Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’.
Ghesquiere has decided that functional elegance is what’s needed now. His silhouettes were audacious. Huge cocooning coats, elongated sweatshirts or tunics were worn over bubble hem skirts and slouchy boots. Practicality and couture-level craftsmanship united in many of the looks. Dazzling jewel and bead encrusted tunics peeped out from beneath oversized outerwear. Long, chunky knits met frothy, flouncy skirts. Joyous, extrovert and inventive, an added layer of decoration came with Vuitton’s new Fornasetti collaboration. The Italian artist’s hand-drawn depictions of classical statues were rendered onto plate-shaped bags, Speedy hold-alls and sewn, like beaded badges, onto gladiator tunic dresses. These catwalk pieces are a taster for a substantial collaboration scheduled for the Autumn.
Alongside this action-packed, dynamic presentation, the brand also released an Instagram filter that allowed its digi-audience to try on the sleek golden ski goggles seen on the catwalk. This playful power-move offered a preview of the interactive future of luxury digital shopping. Imagine if you could do that with every piece? “I wanted something impactful, something that conveys hope and joy for what’s coming next, and for people to have a good time watching,” said the designer. He got his wish.
Photography courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
