0
Pre-spring, in Palm Springs, with Louis Vuitton
Alexander Fury
By Alexander Fury
Fashion, Fashion Sense
Last updated: Thursday, 7 May 2015 at 6:14 pm
Vuitton 043 199x300 Pre spring, in Palm Springs, with Louis Vuitton
A leather dress - one of many - at Louis Vuitton's pre-Spring 2016 show in Palm Springs
I’m never a fan of fashion journalism that talks more about the show than the clothes. It smacks of a writer reticent to offer an opinion, lest it offend (or perhaps, just unsure of what they really think, or what to really say). But, with the newly-minted Around The World In Eighty Looks format of pre-collection presentation, it’s unavoidable. Fashion houses want journalists to be awed by the financial might that can shift an entire industry across the world on a creative whim. Moreover, they want them to communicate that to their readers, reinforcing the strength of the designer and, perhaps most importantly, the security of the brand as a whole. That not only sells clothes – it also drives the share price up.
So, there’s a justification for the pre-collection junket we are in the midst of – beginning with Chanel’s jaunt to Seoul in South Korea at the start of this week. Korea is the third largest market in Asia for luxury after China and Japan. It also provided a jumping-off point for Karl Lagerfeld, fusing traditional Korean dressmaking techniques with K-Pop references. Which came first, the creative chicken or the golden commercial egg?
That’s something you wonder a great deal with these pre-collection shows. These locations aren’t plucked out by chance. Dior’s in the south of France coincides (almost) with the Cannes film festival; Louis Vuitton’s in Palm Springs was Los Angeles adjacent, and therefore terribly convenient for some of the celebrities the label invited, as well as well-heeled West Coast clients.
Most people were impressed by the fact that the Vuitton venue was the Bob and Dolores Hope Estate – an admittedly impressive joint designed by architect John Lautner in 1973. In fact, most were most impressed by the fact the estate is on the market for offers in the region of $25m (around £16.5m). I was once told that Louis Vuitton’s annual takings at a single London department stores’ concession exceeded that. Which kind of puts it in context – or rather, the might of LV.
Despite the flashy location and picture postcard views of the Coachella valley as inevitable backdrop to thousands of ad hoc images, besides the catwalk shots, Vuitton further highlighted the geographic choice by espousing Palm Springs as a city that initiated the resort mindset. Resort is another word for pre-spring – I try to keep my references consistent, otherwise we’d go mad, and get totally lost in the convoluted calendar fashion has created. And I sort of see their point.
Vuitton 038 199x300 Pre spring, in Palm Springs, with Louis Vuitton
A shorts suit with a Native American-influenced pattern, at Louis Vuitton
I could also discern a Californian mood behind Nicolas Ghesquiere’s clothes – the point of this whole exercise, although it takes five paragraphs of preamble to get there. And after all that, pinning down that reference is no great insight, but it was interestingly done. The drippy maxi hemlines reminded me of the sinuous evening gowns of thirties Hollywood starlets, the high-shopped shorts of demure fifties swimsuits, especially in folkish patchwork which in turn formed patterns reminiscent (vaguely) of Navajo patterns. Studded stuff was a bit Wild West; lug-soled shoes gothy in the Lost Boys of San Carla mould. Those booty shorts were frequently teamed with suctioned-in jackets, throwbacks to Ghesquiere’s scuba looks of this time last year, although this iteration reminded you of California surfers’ wetsuits. Maybe that was purely geographical.
The long skirts were the main story, generally shown below cropped jackets and blouses, the back perhaps scooped out and held against the body with a strip of elastic, or buckled by a duo of studded belts boldly criss-crossing the torso. Those skirts were another bold gesture, although more wearable than x-ing cowgirl hardware. and were intriguing, heavy sometimes in thick spongy-looking crepe that held against the body rather than billowing away. A few came in leather. There were possibly a few too many, given that this is a collection for ostensibly for warmer times, and that an ankle-grazing dress in calfskin is an unpleasant proposition in any climes. The desert backdrop of Palm Springs only served to emphasise that point: the models were palpably schvitzing; one seemed smug that her leather shroud was perforated with Vuitton quatrefoil cut-outs, to give her legs some air.
That said, I’m sure women will wear it. Because Louis Vuitton is fashionable, and despite assertions to the contrary many women are willing to abandon notions of practicality (and even the traditional rules of attraction) in order to appear as such.
VUI3938 199x300 Pre spring, in Palm Springs, with Louis Vuitton
A palm-print bag, by Louis Vuitton
They were out in force at the Louis Vuitton show. Some looked wonderful, in the clothes Nicolas Ghesquiere proposed in his first three Vuitton collections. But those collections, with their short torso and A-line skirts, high waisted trousers and suctioned-in sweaters, are demanding. Most evidently, they demand a terribly specific body type to look really good on.
That was, I think, part and parcel of the challenge of Ghesquiere’s first year at Vuitton. He was required to establish a recognisable silhouette, and fashion identity, for a house that had neither. Marc Jacobs’ tenure was marked by an extreme oscillation from theme to theme, season in and season out. The only constant, it seemed, was the Monogram. That isn’t a criticism – it’s Jacobs’ method of working, one he’s still exploring under his own label. Ghesquiere is tackling it differently.
That said, this collection had a broad sweep, and a wider appeal. There were lots of ideas, that will appeal to lots of people, even people who aren’t willing to faint in their willingness to don a smocked calfskin gypsy dress. Ghesquiere is loosening up his Louis Vuitton.
Some people won’t like that looseness, because it implies a lack of focus, and can lead to a messiness. I liked the messiness of this Louis Vuitton collection, the dodgier moments when Ghesquiere’s Californ-i-ay cliches of ranch-hand studs, folkish smocking, eighties goth and beach bum smashed together into uncomfortable wholes. Those are the pieces that excite fashion watchers, who expect Ghesquiere to challenge even when producing clothes that are, traditionally, the least challenging (and hence most easily retailed) in the fashion cannon.
The clients probably just looked away, confused, and focussed on the shoes, or the palm-front printed bags that are sure to sell up a storm.