Louis Vuitton. Fall 2020 Ready-to-Wear - Paris Fashion Week.

(Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the photographer/company where applicable: Gorunway.com)

As the fashion industry was caught offguard unexpectedly, like most industries, by the ferocity of the Covid-19 virus, in a brief retrospection of its pandemic, one should not be overly shocked.  Yes, the interconnectivity and the free reign between global sellers and buyers has crunched very suddenly, but the world is fine.  Earth was born of fire and will return to its fiery demise when the Sun becomes a red giant, Humans like our markets are however finite and in the meantime like all impermanent aspects that want to see otherwise, there has been ensured patch work of improvisation via the liquidity trails of cash. Soon or later it was going to come undone. With doomsday aside, the show must go on, even though the viral out break nearly shut down the last days of Milan Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week in tow worked on limited access, halving and in some cases shrinking down the influx of guests dramatically.  However the stage presentations for Milan and Paris were magnificent in scale.  With large and mostly over the top presentations which were already planned before the virus hit, showing that some of the larger fashion houses (and the remainder of the independent designers) were aiming for an all in bet for the start of 2020. 

The Louis Vuitton exposé was no less than an incredible performance.  As the closing runway show for Paris Fashion Week Fall 2020 at the Louvre Museum, which, had been shut to all visitors due to the epidemic.  Creative director Nicolas Ghesquière set the tone, with a standing 200 person choir, within the Louvre's expansive theatrical setting, to which they had all been dressed in 500 years of variant styles.  It was Ghesquière's past to present showpiece, which had to be admired for its outstanding back drop in promoting his latest collection.  Collaborating with Italian costume designer Milena Canonero who styled the choir ensemble, yet at a closer glance it is Canonero's curriculum vitae that reflects her impressive repotaire of exprience.  She began her costume design work for the late Stanley Kubrick's 1971 dystopian classic “A Clockwork Orange” and since that first initiation into the film industry, Canonero has gathered a slew of awards and nominations from the various movies that she had worked on over the years.  

Clearly Ghesquière's interest in costume design has been an influence for most of his collections, so it is not a new concept for him.  I have always felt that it is important younger designers should experiment with the discipline of costume, which, like fashion design, holds two different perspectives - that end up complementing each other.  It is the practise of combining the spectrum of theatrics within the functionality of its design.  And for Ghesquière's latest showing the two have obviously been separated, at least as a stage presentation, whilst the impact of his  runway styles remain under the Louis Vuitton brand.

Ambiguity at times is a productive calling card for designers and Ghesquière has used it from time to time, particularly for his Fall 2020 collection – and it feels more relevant than previous seasons.  He explained that the whole theatrical setting for the Fall 2020 collection was to promote a history of resonation, the spectras of past maybe watching us.  I personally like that concept, but not in some mythical ghost story, but rather, we, as humans are judged on merit of our past actions, not future ones.  As the future does not exist. So, to have 200 actors of past days, preside over the runway setting worked very well. 

Ghesquière is an exceptional designer, bridging modernist, retro-futurist styles onto cleverly reworked looks of previous eras.  He has fused, as seen in previous collections, a very imaginative take on the Louis Vuitton template.  At 47 pieces it was a fairly muted affair in light of the larger collections that have been on show for the Fall 2020 Fashion Weeks.  Ghesquière melded and re-cut sports, formal and luxury styles into a distinct range.  Leather, when layered over form, as opposed to its skintight looks can be hard to tame, yet Ghesquière's has shown his ability as a designer to shape the more heavy laden leather styles.  The fitting and cuts are superb, undoubtedly laser crafted.  Regardless of the technique, Ghesquière's skill was on display ensuring that the entire collection was consistent in its representation.