October 3, 2019 |
With an eerie music video of the British artist Sophie, her cheekbones artificially enhanced to alien-like proportions, the show began. The film formed a vast moving backdrop to the bare plywood set (easier to recycle according to Vuitton bods). Time travel has always fascinated Nicolas Ghèsquiere.
“We wanted to explore notions about what’s outdated and old-fashioned, and nostalgia for a time we can only dream about,” he said. The Belle Epoch period provided the seed for this collection. “It’s a part of French history that’s very interesting in art, as well as culturally, in terms of emancipation of women, and, of course, in literature with Proust,” he said.
The swirling floral appliqués and prints on short shift dresses or neat little coats, were inspired by the Art Nouveau stained glass at the Vuitton family home. in the quiet Paris suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine. Other details too – Iris corsages and puff sleeved blouses and jackets spoke to that era although many of the silhouettes read as seventies. The sequin tank tops, puff sleeve printed blouses, high waisted slacks and round toed loafers of the opening passage keyed into that decade’s maximalist fascinations. This was not a pared back collection. Ghesquiere revelled in pattern, print, hand crafted textures and a pretty stained glass palette. The new bag? A VHS tape mini-trunk – inspired a pang of nostalgia for long obsolete technology. Time is relative. Fashion too.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans.
