Louis Vuitton Fall 2021 Ready-to-Wear Collection
A year ago, in the Before Times, Nicolas Ghesquière staged the last fashion show as we used to know them. Today he was back at it, only without an audience or the 200 choral singers who performed in that season’s special Es Devlin–designed set. But COVID restrictions aside, the Louis Vuitton creative director was certainly not hurting for supporting players.
Ghesquière made a runway of the Louvre’s Denon wing, his models mingling with ancient Roman, Greek, and Etruscan sculptures to the tunes of Daft Punk’s mega-hit “Around the World.” The notoriously hard-to-get duo agreed to lend the song for the show weeks ago, he said, pre-breakup. He also divined a collaboration with the Italian design atelier Fornasetti, and its famous hand-drawn faces of women from antiquity peered out from all manner of clothes and leather goods. This was a show absolutely teeming with life, even though we were all watching from our laptop screens and smartphones.
That was the point: “Since we are all in a motionless situation, we have to double our imagination of inventing an extraordinary journey,” Ghesquière said during a Zoom preview. That goes for the collection as much as the production values surrounding it. A year in lockdown has nurtured designers’ decorative instincts, in spite of—or perhaps because of—the collective turn to sweatpants and other home wear. In anticipation of a late 2021 reemergence, fashion has gone absolutely extroverted.
Operating at high frequency, Ghesquière lavished attention on both silhouettes and surface treatments. Propelled by the concept of movement, he alternated between blouson jackets and cocooning capes on the one hand and elongated torsos punctuated with skirts that bubbled around the knees on the other. Nearly all the looks were accompanied by wedge-heel boots with a slouchy, swaggering disposition. Equally, though, this collection was a showcase for the LV atelier’s savoir faire: jewel-encrusted tunics peeked from under color-blocked parkas and bombers, and otherwise simple ’60s-ish dresses in A-line or sack shapes were minutely embroidered in graphic patterns and motifs. The closing pair of gladiator dresses were canvases for Fornasetti drawings of ancient statuary.
“I wanted something impactful, something that conveys hope and joy for what’s coming next, and for people to have a good time watching,” Ghesquière said. “A moment of fashion.” The video ends with the last model peering up at the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Hellenistic sculpture dating to the 2nd century B.C. that has occupied its current spot in the Louvre since 1884. As Beyoncé made abundantly clear in the video she made at the museum with Jay Z., Victoire is a potent symbol. Here and there Ghesquière showed an understated peacoat, a quilted cape in a neutral shade of taupe gray, or a sturdy work jacket, but these were mostly foils for frocks of the gilded lamé sort underneath. This was a collection of Louis Vuitton trophy pieces for the coming-out parties we’re anticipating after a year in suspended animation.
Every Look From Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2021
Presented to an audience of priceless artifacts, Louis Vuitton’s Women’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection gave The Winged Victory and Borghese Gladiator the front row treatment. What a step up from cardboard cutouts.
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Filmed within the Daru Galleries of the Louvre, Creative Director of Womenswear, Nicolas Ghesquière, turned to art as his muse. Like many of us confined without travel, Ghesquière “started the season thinking what could be a wonderful trip, what could be the most dreamy escape.” After exploring the walls of his imagination, he decided the most indulgent theme of all would be to reanimate the artistic excellence of Italian, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Mythology. More specifically, pulling inspiration from the various representations of femininity synonymous with this imagery. As we know with these selections of goddesses there’s no lack of range—Athena represents conquest, Aphrodite as love, and Minerva as science to name a few. But instead of the obvious draping techniques that comes with interpreting this era, Ghesquière turned to Fornasetti as guidance.
Founded by Piero Fornasetti in 1940, the Italian artistic design atelier is notoriously known for contemporary reinterpretations of mythological icons. This design excellence and sheer cultural impact of this atelier is what led Ghesquière to form a partnership between these two specialty houses. Clearly with this blend, there was no lack of inspiration. With the Fornasetti archive spanning from 13,000 artifacts, Louis Vuitton meticulously settled on fifteen designs that served as the mood board for the runway looks as well as a soon to be released capsule collection.
Made up of a pastel and gemstone color palette, illustrated artwork prints, and kitschy silhouettes, it is clear Ghesquière adopted Fornasetti’s own strategy of giving Greek and Roman art a modern context. This is not your everyday 800 B.C. street style. Ready-to-wear gets a whimsical reinterpretation as seen from from tulle skirts paired under sports jackets, laser printed Fornasetti drawings, dazzling gemstone patterns, colorful fringed dresses, and a rich textured layering technique that will make your ancestors quake.
While looking to the past was one of the main drivers for this Fall/Winter 2021 collection, the current time period also served as an important theme. With lockdowns having society working and living from home, the concept of comfort dressing mixed with extreme fashion statements has become embedded in our culture. This ongoing style battle proved to be an interesting topic for Ghesquière. “I was so curious to try to find a great combination between those two feelings that are definitely going to stay in our life,” the creative director states. This phenomenon is achieved within his collection through garments that are simultaneously decorative, crafty, and sculpturally silhouetted but with the additional feature of soft padding for a more everyday look. He explains this design choice as “…like a pillow you are taking with you everywhere," similar to a comfort blanket or object, the purpose of this collection is to provide fashionable assistance. As Ghesquière continues, “I like to think that these clothes represent that moment when you are finally getting out, and finally connecting to others [in person], but you are also taking something that belongs to you, something that is for you — this moment when you were in your space and you felt very comfortable, you can take this with you.”
And take it with us we will. If you see us walking through the MET, strutting through the Natural History section in a tutu to the remixed soundtrack of Stronger by Kanye, just mind your business.
See the entire collection from Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2021 below