Louis Vuitton. Women's Fall 2024 - PAris fashion Week.

Nicolas Ghesquière, as opposed to some of his peers, has indeed lasted the distance with his tenure for Louis Vuitton.  With over 10 years under his belt whilst, in my opinion, Ghesquière has been the most consistent in creating an attributed template for the famed fashion house.  And what an interesting template it is, drawing from his impression of utopian stylisation of 1950s aesthetics, and that future that was never was.  Beyond the distraction of the so called Culture Wars which were created over the last 10 years as political scapegoating, perpetuated by the Right Wing, that a conspiracy was at large by the Left.  Muddling up postmodernism and creativity as a detriment, and hindrance to the extreme elements of American conservatism.  However, unfortunately our society is more Right than the Left, with the conservative attitudes of family and stability under a structured foundation, is very much alive and well.  Where we are under no 'threat' by any counterculture.  All the while the most dangerous President America that has ever had in power, maybe voted in for the 2nd time in 2024.  

And how does all this relate to Ghesquière modernist retake of fashion as a hopeful array?   In comparison to the deconstructive aspects of Rick Owens doomsday or Balenciaga's Demna Gvsalia's mockery of popular culture.  Not a lot.  Suffice to say, that any correlation is more or less just an aesthetical gesture to what does inspire Ghesquière's styles.  That being the possibility that somewhere in the parallel Universes out there, the countercultures of the 1960s and the hedonism of the 1970s and early 1980s were contained.  Rather it was nuclear power, space travel and a technological advancements of a modern society that offered all that utopian hope.

But, Ghesquière has experimented with some darker elements for Louis Vuitton during is 10 year stint as its creative director, but always manages to return to what is he knows best, to his beloved  utopianistic, modernist styles.  To which he decreed in a written note prior to the Fall 2024 showing, "Ten years later, this evening is a new dawn."

A new dawn for all?   Ghesquière's Louis Vuitton was held at the Cour Carrée du Louvre in Paris, in a Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton presentation that was on par with so many runway shows before and after the COVID pandemic, which has seemingly past, and of course, it may seem that all is well.  However, what appeared different this time was the masses of people in attendance, with over 4000 gathered to watch Ghesquière utopian spectacle, with its fixation of modernist overtures.  It did portray an excessiveness which held very little irony, and without the absurdity that it deserves, the spectacle reflected the generalist consensus of a world, that has been overly served and yes, structured.  Remember, Covid death rates rose with the stock market in 2020 and the economy superseded everything else.

Yet, Ghesquière ensembles are aligned with that possible future of perpetual wealth and stability which was echoed out of the 1990s, beginning in the 50s and grew from the 2000 mortgage markets.   So, the collection does hold that stalwart appeal of longevity even if it is feigned, with my favorite synthetic material Polyamide seen throughout, on various outfits.  Ghesquière's latest collection is attractive, clean with a captivating durability, akin to the pragmatic consumerism of a new household appliance.  And this is where I wonder how his pragmatism of 50s utopian futures, mixed with 1990s and 2000s 'technology will set us free' entrepreneurism, sits with the opulent luxury of Louis Vuitton.

Maybe it doesn't or isn't supposed to, maybe it is just a bold statement, that financial power and creativity seldom work together.  And there has been no peak and no decline, and Ghesquière's utopia is nothing more than a phantasmagoric dreamscape.

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(A.Glass 2024)