Louis Vuitton

17/05/2014
The coast of Monaco might be dotted with soaring skyscrapers, but there’s still nothing to rival the view from the Prince’s Palace of Monaco. Tourists who ascended the Rocher earlier this evening would have been surprised to find an awe-inspiring, glass-paneled salon that looked like it landed from out of space smack in the middle of the Palace Square. As the first fashion presentation to take place on those grounds under the patronage of HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco, Louis Vuitton’s resort show was a landmark occasion. It also brought the house’s long-standing history with the monarchy full circle—it’s exactly 100 years since Vuitton received its first royal commission, a supremely luxurious crocodile skin garment cover to be precise.

Artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière was invited to the palace by the Princess earlier this year, and his tour of the impressive thirteenth-century castle provided a gust of new wind to the reference points that had been percolating in his mind since his debut collection for Vuitton in March of this year. “I didn’t think they would open the Palace gates for me like this, but I think Her Highness wanted me to be inspired by this city and what Monaco really is,” said Ghesquière, seated in one of the wood-paneled antechambers of the palace after the show. “I was drawn to the amazing collage of architecture here, the way that buildings of different eras sit together in such density, against an a lush and tropical environment.”
With a digital aquatic montage by artist Ange Leccia bubbling beneath the runway as the lights went up, the scene for the new collection was set right from the start. The opening a look, an embellished raspberry red top with hip-skimming powder pink flared pants, evoked the rich palette of the local landscape, from the bougainvillea in full bloom to the palace walls, which are painted afresh with a different pastel hue every year. Ghesquière described the clothes as an extension of the wardrobe he put forth last season, and a 1960s-leaning silhouette came through in neatly buttoned A-line suede skirts and mock-neck skinny knits. After the somewhat subdued tones of fall, the designer let in the sunshine this time around in a major way, and leather paneled blazers came printed with a gorgeous riot of hand-drawn flowers. Brightly colored leather jackets were layered over embroidered chiffon and flirty black lace dresses—a passing nod to legendary photographer and erstwhile Monaco resident, Helmut Newton.
In those optimistic tones, he captured the true joie de vivre of resort—a season that is exuberant and playful by definition—while hitting on the sweet spot of transitional dressing, where winter and summer are expected to coexist in harmony. Few designers can treat fall layering pieces like shimmering leather minidresses (laser cut, coated in silver, and spliced in a myriad of intricate ways) and intarsia furs with such a skilled, light touch the way that Ghesquière does. Indeed many of the looks felt easy and weightless in the same way that the way the teeny tiny “petite Malle” box bags did. And the double strap ankle pumps that came in bright ponyhair were exactly the kind of thing you want to pack in a Louis Vuitton trunk regardless of your destination.  
Cannes festival favorites like Brit Marling and Adèle Exarchopoulos made a pit stop in the city for the show and sat in the front row, alongside the Prince and Princess. They were reminded of an event closer to home with the curvilinear seating track created especially for the show by celebrated design whiz Pierre Paulin—the Grand Prix. With his latest collection Ghesquière is certainly steering the legendary house in an exciting, new direction.

Fonte: vogue.com

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