Nicolas Ghesquière has accumulated plenty of fanboys during his years in fashion. Today at his Louis Vuitton Resort show in Japan, he turned fanboy himself. First the venue. Vuitton’s Cruise collections have been held in some spectacular spots—Rio’s Niterói Museum, Bob Hope’s John Lautner-designed home in Palm Springs—but Ghesquière and co. outdid themselves today. Perched in a green valley an hour’s drive from Kyoto and designed by the architect I. M. Pei, the Miho Museum looks like it landed on the spot from outer space (it has that in common with the Niterói and Bob Hope’s place) or as if it had been discovered there, a ruin from the long-distant future. In fact, Pei designed the Miho to evoke Shangri-la, heaven on earth. “I understand it’s one of his favorite buildings,” Ghesquière said of the museum. There’s synergy in the setting, too. Pei masterminded the glass pyramid that revitalized the Louvre Museum in Paris; Ghesquière showed his Fall Vuitton show in the Louvre and has plans to do so again.
As for the collection—his most risk-taking yet at Vuitton—among its many, many Japanese references it featured illustrated sequined dresses and guaranteed-hit Kabuki-eyed bags imagined by Kansai Yamamoto. The Japanese designer is famous for dressing David Bowie in a glittering one-legged jumpsuit, among other pieces, and for paving the way for his countrymen and woman Kenzo Takada, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo, who would follow him to Paris. Yamamoto, in an electric red suit, was among the notables in the front row, alongside Ghesquière faves Michelle Williams, Jennifer Connelly, Sophie Turner, and Isabelle Huppert. “I’ve bought many of his clothes at auction,” Ghesquière said of Yamamoto. The Frenchman is friends with his daughter and thus the collaboration was born.
Ghesquière has been traveling to Japan for two decades, and this collection was a love letter, not just to Yamamoto, but to the country’s culture in general. Samurai armor, Kurosawa’s colors, Kabuki makeup, traditional prints of fishermen, and the obscure 1970s Japanese film series Stray Cat Rock informed his process. They produced a collection dense with prints, layers, and textures, as well as a rebellious, badass attitude.
Since the old days at Balenciaga, Ghesquière’s tailoring has been influential. It commanded most of the attention here. He indicated that the oversized, yet hourglass blazers near the end of the show were inspired by traditional Japanese styles, while the rounded, standout shoulder lines on a series of short-sleeved jackets seemed to nod backwards at a collection he did in the late aughts. But mostly he preferred a boyish, cropped style with a hem that barely grazed the hips and shortened sleeves. His dresses were as relaxed as the tailoring was structured. Lace slips with square hems worn over white tees and stretchy, colored jeans looked street-ready and cool, and his A-list gals are likely to fight over a long black and gold lace number embroidered with miniature silver leaves in a loose, away-from-the-body shape and that same handkerchief hem.
At cocktails afterwards, it was Yamamoto’s turn to play fanboy. Observing how happy Ghesquière was, he remarked about the scope of the production: “Amazing,” he said. Yes.
