A French fashion label’s collection for Cruise 2015 stems from colourful experimentations and thoughtful mismatch.
NICOLAS Ghesquiere has a lot of courage.
After churning out barely two collections for French luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton, Ghesquiere has pushed the envelope in many directions.
His experimentations are still going strong and his latest lineup for Cruise 2015, presented in Monaco in May, gave a glimpse of expecting the unexpected from the man whose nip and flare expertise when it comes to clothes silhouette is globally respected.
If his tenure in the brand is a book, this is barely the first few chapters — he hasn’t yet laid out the foundation of his designs, he is still going wild with shapes and colours (so mismatching is everywhere) and he tries to make new of nostalgia, bringing back styles from five decades ago.
For those who think fashion is predictable, Ghesquiere’s early days at Vuitton is proof that this isn’t so and that some rules of fashion need to be re-written or abolished altogether.
Style.com in its review says the designer is still “thinking about a wardrobe” but his clothes, as if showing a growth from what he did for Fall, show more embellishment and are more playful this time around.
PLAY WITH CONTRAST A regional show was held in Hong Kong in September and while the atmosphere wasn’t the same as that of Monaco, the feel of the clothes remained the same.
Contrast was ever y where from an asymmetrical lace top to a cropped patent leather jacket in orange to thigh-high lace-up shoes adorned with colourful floral prints — there was no binding thread for the pieces except that they were a part of a big fashion experiment in progress.
Pantsuits reminiscent of the 1960s were in light pink and mustard or brave floral print.
There were no black pants here, no thighhiding or optical illusion.
Dresses were held together by zippers, up to the neckline.
One zip-up dress, in bright yellow, reminded me of a gentler version of The Bride, the famous character played by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, minus her Hattori Hanzo sword.
Elsewhere, the clothes were like those worn by Heather Graham in Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Retro lines, bold prints, you get the drift.
There was no climax in his show, no one piece that stood out because every single look was different and told its own story.
He called this the intimate wardrobe, “brought to life in another universe by unexpected identity”.
The wardrobe, he said, was “shaken through and through, lending itself to the mixing of genres, peculiar layering, expert dissonance and pseudo-paradoxical juxtapositions”.
If philosophy isn’t seen as in tandem with fashion, Ghesquiere wanted to break that preconception by giving the audience something to think about.
If a bright orange jacket with black collar and cuffs looked odd to you, Ghesquiere asked, but why? If you found a pink pantsuit with humongous pockets and exaggerated details unwearable, he’d say, why not? UNUSUAL CONTRAST Everywhere in the collection were opposites — pieces women wouldn’t put together, but Ghesquiere seemed to make these contrasts charming and instantly palatable.
A pantsuit with bold flower pattern, for example, was too in-yourface to be worn outside the runway and the yellow pants and red lace top combo worn with a sequined jacket looked over the top.
But this was, I think, another phase of his experimentation and I suppose until he can pin down the style sense of the Vuitton woman, such fashion dissonance will reappear in his collections.
Ghesquiere may still be figuring his place in Vuitton’s fashion universe and before he gets his footing on the ground, his designs levitate above the rails of reality.
And they are fabulous, fun and at times, funny.
The journey has just begun, and it looks to be an eventful, beautiful one.
RESTRAINED EXCESS
FOR his accessories collection, Nicolas Ghesquiere isn’t too consumed with creating the it-bag so every part of the collection gets a bit of his attention.
A balanced line of statement shoes and bags and bold jewellery, he plays on excess in a restrained and refined manner.
For shoes, the round LV insignia appears in almost all footwear, the letters encased in a circle.
The emblem feels like a batch sign for this collection.
Otherwise, ankle straps have the letter V written on them.
For bags, the diamond pattern appears alongside vintage LV clasp, lending a retro feel to the new collection.
The bags are tiny, for evening use or for a cocktail.
Other carriers come with decorated clasps that are colourful and humorous.
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