Reverential, futuristic, timeless

Nicolas Ghesquière celebrates a decade with Louis Vuitton with a collection that’s at once very Ghesquière and very LV. The house’s historic luggage is now a dress. Silk goes edgy. Forget athleisure as technical fabrics make an elegant comeback for the jet set.

While labeled for women, much of the collection is innately genderless; Felix of chart-topping K-pop group Stray Kids modeled one of the looks during the runway show in Paris with androgynous flair. Shoulders are straight and sculptural, and silhouettes are boxy and roomy. The shoes are chunky, making for a strong stride. These allow the house’s signature textiles to shine.

One thing LV and Ghesquière have in common is their proclivity for fabric manipulation and textile technology — who can forget Ghesquière's take on neoprene in the late 2000s? This combined expertise shines in this collection with graphic motifs, lustrous embroidery, and statement-making accessories and handbags, all inspired by the house’s emblems.

Now that the collection is in stores, the Philippine LV team curates it into four edits, keeping the Filipino lifestyle — and the weather! — in mind, whether you’re spending the ber” months here or abroad, whatever your style may be.

Sports luxe

Ghesquière maximizes the capabilities of tech jersey, the house’s signature cady crepe, and fabric blends like the scuba to create voluminous, dynamic silhouettes for the brand’s active, jet-set clientele. Luxurious knits add warmth to 3D technical fabrics, trimmed with decadent ruffles, feathers and fur on the hem. Denim lends perfectly to a gilet, drawing on the formality of traditional riding coats in a pared-back, modern shape. Wool, silk and mikado, typically used in eveningwear, are blended into structured yet lightweight directional square shoulders. And in a classic Ghesquière move, the tapered waist is offset by sharp peplum details on the hips for a play of volume. The look is at once futuristic and jet set while keeping the comfort and dynamism of sportswear.

Debuted in 2018, the cult LV Archlight sneaker is refined with an all-over look this season. For dressier occasions, the Jazz derby plays on both masculine and feminine codes in glazed calf leather featuring pinpoint perforations on the vamp.

Timeless Heritage

Travel is in the DNA of Louis Vuitton, and right at its heart are the archival trunks. Today, even as the house has expanded to artisanal chocolate to fine jewelry, Ghesquière pays homage to its luggage-making heritage by zooming in on details of vintage trunks as created by Vuitton himself, scanning the bold contrast of its gold hardware in the iconic Monogram and the red logo, and printing them onto the RTW pieces and leather goods. The LV Trunk motif appears as a print in a variety of silhouettes — from a pure silk scarf for versatile styling, combined with rib knit in blouses with hardware inspired by the traditional trunk, to structured cotton gabardine dresses with the allover print for a maximum statement.

SHEER BRILLIANCE

Elegant silk enjoys new life as something sexy, edgy and sophisticated in Ghesquière’s

hands. Delicate silk is turned into a sheer knit, detailing it with pleats, or harnessing its lightness into feather-like ruffles, modernizing conventional feminine design codes into bold fashion statements. Fluid yet loose, boxy cuts showcase this textural marvel with high necklines and longer hemlines. No boring sleeves here; from balloon to ruffled, the sleeves accentuate volume. Styled with the sheen of soft, lightweight lambskin — check out the high-neck top — it’s very demure, very mindful, yet packs a punch.

GILDED OPULENCE

Ghesquière went for gold in floral jacquard and lurex tweeds as a statement spin on classic tailoring codes, all the way down to the GO-14 bag. The luxurious, maximalist fabric doesn’t need further embellishment as crop tops, cropped tees, and miniskirts are elevated into occasionwear in this fabrication. Lapels are oversized in the suiting. Pants with a simple hook fastening emphasizes the sharp look. The house’s exotic furs complete the look. As of presstime, one of each coat from the runway collection is available in the Greenbelt store.

***

In the Philippines, Louis Vuitton is in Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati; The Shoppes at Solaire, Paranaque; and The Mall in Nustar Resort and Casino in Cebu.