Louis Vuitton. Pre-Fall 2023 - Seoul.

Nicolas Ghesquière has returned back to his beloved 1950's esque futurist stylizations, of that utopia that-never-happened, in earnest.  Which is an astounding return to form since his Ready-to-Wear Fall 2022 and 2023 showings, that as noted with my Louis Vuitton Fall 2023 review, was teetering on the edge of the Avant-garde and more experimental and daren't I say, darker arrays that Ghesquière as a fashion designer has not been renowned for.  And as I have commented with Ghesquière's Louis Vuitton past presentations, of the retro futurism of technological grandeur that was the 1950's.  Which attempted to offer hope within its pragmatic template of nuclear energy, conservative family values and new a middle class.  Science fiction since the 1970's has toyed with this parallel timeline and the gleam of 50's technological prowess, as least aesthetically of the possibility that the era could have set forth a Utopian idealism.  Only to collapse in the 1960's and 1970's when the counter culture erupted and the baby boomers rejected their parents rigidity.    The echo of romanticism remains.

However, we as a society are facing another shift, as the world, now after the World Health Organization has declared that the COVID-19 pandemic over, regardless it had changed our society forever in the shadow of a micro organism that has wreaked havoc onto the human race, and we did not cope.  Viruses throughout history always tend to throw a society into disarray and unfortunately at this point in our so called advancements, we are no different.  The Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVHM) group who owns Louis Vuitton, like most luxury holding companies, maybe also attempting to shift markets.  Trying to move away from Chinese consumers, in sourcing other Asian markets.  The Pre-Fall 2023 collection was held in Seoul in South Korea.  Yet, it has been a balancing act, on one hand is the geopolitical tensions with China that for the most part is very much a new Cold War and the reliant Chinese consumer that buys Western goods for prestige - Louis Vuitton is front and center as that brand.  On the other hand, the Chinese consumption engine could all but be petering out.  Thus, LVHM has utilized South Korea as a new possible growth engine, forecasted that by 2024, the South Korean consumer would buy up over $7 billion dollars worth of luxury goods from the West.  However, at this point in time the luxury goods bought by South Koreans are mostly watches and jewelry, not clothing.

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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(A.Glass 2023)