Paris, France, 2014-3-12 — /EPR Retail News/ — The moment everyone was waiting for throughout the recently ended Paris Fashion Week did not disappoint. Nicolas Ghesquière’s debut show for Louis Vuitton capped the Fall/Winter 2014-2015 collections with triumphant style.
He knew everyone was waiting to see what he would do, and he more than met their expectations. “Today is a new day. A big day,” said Nicolas Ghesquière with modest affirmation, sharing his emotion just before the start of his first Louis Vuitton show. This was a powerful moment for the French designer, coming just four months after his appointment as creative director at the celebrated trunkmaker. His first collection thus marked the dawn of a new era, watched with eager anticipation by the entire fashion world.
In the heart of a Cour Carrée du Louvre bathed in magnificent winter sunlight, the set for the show signaled a change with its simplicity and luminosity. The clean labyrinth runway brought models up close in front of guests, their looks providing the first glimpse of the direction Mr. Ghesquière has in mind for Louis Vuitton.
“What Nicolas is going to be doing is creating a more focused vision of who the Vuitton woman is,” said Michael Burke, Chief Executive Officer of Louis Vuitton, speaking to theInternational New York Times. “That’s going to be his challenge.”
For this Vuitton woman the designer proposed a wardrobe where clothes, accessories and leather goods all work together to create structured, geometric silhouettes. The close-fitting pieces feature cinched waists and cropped cuts. Neutral seasonal colors are punctuated by blue and red splashes to set off more discreet tones. Noble materials harmoniously mix leather and wool. A tribute to the 60s, the overall impression is one of updated, contemporary vintage. The creations respect the history of the House while reinterpreting its codes, humble yet powerful.
The first collection and the show received an enthusiastic reception from the fashion world and on social networks. More than 4,000 tweets about the show were posted over a three-hour period on Wednesday morning. Influential fashion journalist Suzy Menkes, who was recently named International Editor at Vogue, was enthralled by the collection: “Tweet the message from Paris to Shanghai: The Louis Vuitton show on Wednesday was a success — for its modernity, its clarity, its decency — and its respect for women,” she wrote in her post-show article.
The guests at the first show included a bevy of A-list names. In addition to actresses Catherine Deneuve, Fan Bingbing and Charlotte Gainsbourg, also attending were designers Jean-Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaïa and the young J. W. Anderson. All were wowed by this grande finale to a brilliantly creative Paris Fashion Week. And all were excited to be witnessing the beginning of a new story, a fresh start full of promise.