Louis Vuitton dreams of space travel in its Cruise 2022 collection
By now we know well the ingredients that go into the making of a successful live-streamed fashion show. Take one spectacular setting. Add eye-catching fashion that keeps the viewer wanting more. Stir in a cinematic approach to filming that swoops and dives over the catwalk, while pausing to linger on key pieces and accessories.
And make a sandwich while you’re at it, because a 15-minute live-streamed show may be the one point in a packed work-from-home day when you can’t be expected to respond to emails.
Tuesday’s lunchtime entertainment came from Louis Vuitton. The French luxury brand showed its Cruise collection in a presentation with all of the right pieces in place. Creative Director Nicholas Ghesquière is no stranger to destination shows – he’s shown past Cruise collections at venues including Rio de Janeiro's Niteròi Contemporary Art Museum and Kyoto’s Miho Museum.
This time, he took his fashion vision to a landmark that was more local but no less entrancing than past venues. His location: Cergy-Pontoise, a town to the northwest of Paris. Specifically Axe Majeur, a monumental sculpture park by late Israeli artist Dani Karavan, the central feature of which is a striking red footbridge – a ready-made catwalk.
Ghesquière used this made-for-Instagram runway as a launchpad for an energetic show full of ideas for the after-times and everything else we’ve been waiting for. The collection of abbreviated looks included mini-dresses with drawstring hemlines, jackets with motocross styling, chain necklines and visible scuba zips.
The dresses, jackets and A-line skirts were printed with fantastical scenes, fusing interplanetary landscapes, travelators and basketball courts. It was kitschy and otherworldly and, when styled with flat white boots, had a mod appeal. Some of it, especially the coats and jackets with disc-shaped pockets, called to mind the work of Space Age-inspired designers André Courrèges and Pierre Cardin, who died last year.
Most promising were a series of crystal-slathered minidresses with oversized chain-detail harnesses – like wearable outer-space disco balls. These are clothes to make the wearer feel they could go places. Any place they want, which is the point. As the house said in a press release, the collection aims to “touch infinity” with a series of “proud, positive looks”.
“One needs nothing more than the most beautiful of passports: creation,” it continued. “As ever, it is unlimited and free.”
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