Sometimes, Nicolas Ghesquière wants to prove too much (“
try too hard
”, the English would say).
By pushing the limits of maximalism and experimentation, he loses sight of the woman who inhabits his creations.
But, Tuesday evening, in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, which is hosting his winter 2025 fashion show marking his 10 years at the head of Louis Vuitton's women's collections, we find the best of this designer who made us love fashion with a capital M during his Balenciaga years (1997-2012) and who, more recently, shaped the feminine vocabulary of the trunk maker.
Those who have followed his work over the last decade will find in this winter 2025 season, a best of his most emblematic pieces, but also a new energy.
Is this linked to the dialogue started a year ago with its new CEO, Pietro Beccari?
No matter the reason: the (relative) purity of this silhouette and the flexibility of the look give even more weight to the extraordinary pieces he is accustomed to.
The first steps on the podium of Felix Lee, idols of young people
Louis Vuitton, faithful to its uninhibited position as number one in luxury, therefore celebrated 10 years (to the day!) of its artistic director's first fashion show with a blockbuster and scenography signed, this time again, by Philippe Parreno.
That’s around ten “chandeliers” between “Death Star” and space data center.
Only to seat 4,000 guests - a record, to our knowledge!
-, it was necessary to arbitrate between those who would be at the center of the show and the others placed in the “corridors” and therefore only seeing part, and from a distance, of the decor.
If we were part of the second category, in the front row, we had Brigitte Macron (seated between Pietro Beccari and Delphine Arnault), Cate Blanchett, Catherine Deneuve, Emma Stone and Sandra Hüller (both nominated in the best actress category at the Oscars, where they will be dressed by “Nicolas”), Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Lisa from Blackpink, Léa Seydoux, Zaho from Sagazan… But imagine that the star that social networks are talking about is Felix Lee, from the K-pop group Stray Kids, who took his first steps on a fashion catwalk here.
A boy, therefore, very handsome, very androgynous, who we do not spot at first glance like these two other male models slipped into this casting of women.
Response to Pharrell Williams, in charge of the man in the same house and who always parades one or two girls?
Scuba jacket, knitted fur, brocade bolero from winter 2025 for Louis Vuitton Giovanni Giannoni
In this collection, opulent in every respect, we will remember the “French habit” jacket in embroidered brocade, a reinterpretation of his summer 2018 wardrobe;
the scuba jackets with peplum belts that he was already tailoring in his Balenciaga years;
this wool fur throw with Game of Thrones glamor (in fact, Sansa Stark/Sophie Turner is also there);
the draped Bermuda look, all black, worn with Ninotchka's hat evoking its winter 2019 (tribute to the trendies of Les Halles in the 1980s).
And these hybrid dresses cut out of origami-style feathers.
And these richly decorated boleros which are, inevitably, reminiscent of Yves Saint Laurent's jeweled jackets at the end of the 1980s (including the famous Hommage à ma maison).
And then, this Alma bag takes on the trompe-l'oeil details of a vintage trunk, also as a tribute to her house.
HG
Monday, Coperni goes on air in Aubervilliers, at Studio 217, the largest set in Europe, and incidentally that of the “Star Academy”.
That evening, there was no Pierre Garnier, the big winner.
Nor spray dresses or robot dogs, the viral happenings that made the brand's reputation.
But a real and beautiful collection inspired by the passion of Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant for science fiction, which ranges from the books of the ufologist Jacques Vallée to the theory of Reptilians, including
X-Files
and
Welcome to Gattaca
.
In the center of the 2,000 m2 plunged into darkness stands a giant totem which flashes to the rhythm of the soundtrack of Close
Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977).
Fans of Steven Spielberg's cult film are in heaven.
The first girl arrives from the back of the stage, goes around the structure which has become silent, in a black bodysuit resembling a tuxedo jacket.
“
Our parka-body from the last pre-collection worn by Hailey Bieber and Dua Lipa sold very well
,” says Arnaud Vaillant.
So much so that we decided to use the principle on all the archetypes of the locker room.
»
Coperni meets the 3rd type, with a Coperni leather body jacket
A blazer, a leather jacket, a beige trench coat and a silver cosmonaut outfit are therefore buttoned at the crotch, but can also be worn “open” with pants and jeans that make the legs go a long way.
The bottom of the fur coats are soaked in “alien blood”.
The stretch nylon sheaths feature press studs in reference to the “connected”
Matrix
characters to move from one world to another.
Bustiers and miniskirts are made of aluminum collage (some of which cover their heads so that the aliens don't read their minds...).
It's fun, well thought out and above all very well done.
Like these taffeta ball dresses,
“ufo dresses” are inspired by flying saucers.
We really worked to get the price right.
They should be sold for around 1,000
euros.
» Indeed, it seems to be worth double.
“
Playing and winning are not enough.
You still have to master your elegance.”
This formula from René Lacoste has become our internal motto.
We believe, like our founder, that fashion and sport are intimately linked
,” explains Pelagia Kolotouros, the artistic director, for the return to the Paris Fashion Week calendar of the crocodile brand, Tuesday on the Philippe-Chatrier court of Roland Garros.
The staging begins like a finale: we remove the tarpaulin, we sweep away the white lines of the clay.
A brunette arrives, in a beautiful black coat over a zipped track jacket, a green crocodile plaid and a matching suitcase covered in logos.
A nod to Lacoste's trip to America after his Davis Cup victory in 1927.
Well cut coat and handmade grass green plaid for Lacoste YANNIS VLAMOS / YANNIS VLAMOS
Then, we spot some good basics (belted overcoats, classic trench coats, jackets and sweaters with crocodile on the lapel) but also, a “pleated skirt bag”, heeled sneakers and plastic boots from Astroboy which leave you perplexed.
On the other hand, few polo shirts, which are nevertheless “icons” of the house and which others (from Miu Miu to Ralph Lauren) have been able to elevate to the rank of fashion classics.
Perhaps it would be better to play it (in) simple?
V.G.