EXCERPT: LOUIS VUITTON. PRE-FALL 2023 - SEOUL. Model: Sarah Brown for Louis Vuitton.

 

(Images: Models.com/Louis Vuitton 2023)

"...Ghesquière hired Squid Game director and creator Hwang dong-Hyuk as the set designer, which visually shows how important movies and cinema production is to Ghesquière, in his projection and grand vision of the iconic French brand name.  And as mentioned, the urban future of Ghesquière's Louis Vuitton template has returned from its experimental imprint of late, to what is the calling card of technological wonder, while walking that fine line amidst a dystopian world.   And in a literal sense, as Hwang dong-Hyuk created a subterranean runway beneath Jamsugyo Bridge, which looks over the Han River in Seoul.  As the South Koreans live under a constant reminder that they could be attacked by a nuclear armed North Korea at any moment.  So, Ghesquière's Pre-Fall collection for Louis Vuitton most certainly holds an absurdity within its hyperreal context.  Noted also, was the bizarre South Korean pop soundtrack for the live streaming video.

Opening for the show was Hoyeon, the South Korean actress and model who stars in the Squid Game, walking through a neon blue lit underground bunker, styled in a dark blue wind breaker, leather miniskirt and urbanized combat boots.  Ghesquière's impeccable styling shines through, as he sets back in place his modernist fervor of prior Louis Vuitton collections, toning down the postmodern fits and looks.   His latest looks hold a seriousness and intensity to its overall imprint, notable styles are the oversized pants and Lampasse stripes that have always been a personal aesthetic of mine, which as a trend falls in and out favor on the runway, only to have returned with Ghesquière's revamp of his Louis Vuitton fixation.  Closing the show was South Korean model Sora Choi styled in dark grey pants, with red/purple Lampasse stripes and hanging jewelry accessories.

A more rugged and focused collection from Ghesquière, who appears to be tryin to find a balance between his Utopia of light and a Dystopia of darkness in a very much changing world, that despite its opulence and excesses, in all of its irony represents a future that is very much unknown."

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Full review: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2023/05/louis-vuitton-pre-fall-2023-seoul.html 

(A.Glass 2023)