Louis Vuitton. Resort 2025 - Barcelona

Following on from Nicolas Ghesquière’s immersion into Utopian architecture and its conceptual ideas.  The French fashion designer clearly has a fascination of not just the 1950s, but also the late 1800s and 1900s pre World War One, on the possibilities that human endeavor and our technological wonders would reflect that period of Enlightenment.  Which was deemed to be the premodernism Utopian desires, that the French Utopianists devised in an early manifestation of socialism, seen as interconnected networks of workers and industrialists living side by side, within atheistically pleasing environments.  Such was its founder Charles Fourier, who believed that structural foundations hold the key to humanist harmony.  Later inspiring Karl Marx, who removed the harmonized elements of French Utopianism, and inserted his class struggle to be an updated call to arms.  Marx removed architecture from the Utopianist template, viewing structural design purely as functionality.

Ghesquière's Louis Vuitton, after a decade of giving the iconic fashion house an infusion of 20th Century idealisms, has very much offered a positive slant for the luxury brand.  Holding the recent Resort show at the famous Art Nouveau architect Antoni Gaudi’s, Park Güell.  Constructed in 1900 with the idea of building a vast Park inspired complex in Barcelona.  Gaudi reworking of Neo-Gothic and classical Greek architecture which was seen throughout Europe, whilst in tune with the Art Nouveau movements of the day.  Gaudi’s Utopian spectacle was interrupted by the onset of World War One, and was never completely finished or realized as a sanctuary per se.  In the decades that followed, the Park Güel Utopia became nothing more than a tourist destination.  Gaudi's utopian visions were seemingly lost in time.

Has Ghesquière reawaken them?  Yet, his latest array does not at all feel like a homage to the great Spanish architect, nor does the collection hold any utopian presence.  And of late, I have noticed Ghesquière's recent styles, have instead revealed a darker and more defined edge. I also feel that he may be moving away from his beloved futurism of the 1950s, with all of its modernist hope, and experimenting with, darent I say, an Avant-garde projection to his newer looks. 

For Resort 2025, Ghesquière maintains his experimentation of connecting the darker and eros elements to his recent collections, deviating, as mentioned, from his 50s esque utopian aspects.  His Delphic cult like impressions are now guiding the way.  Gaudi's Hypostyle Room, which was the impromptu runway for the collection, set within the grounds of Park Güell, was inspired by the Town of Delphi in Greece.  As the models walk through the 100 pillars of Gaudi's ambiguous looking temple, I do equate Ghesquière's redefining of his own backlog, to what I have seen with Rick Owens Doomsday Orcales of the last Four years, who lead us out of the pandemic.  Only to issue a warning, that overconfidence and human folly is indeed the curse. 

Are the Oracles of Doom now encroaching on Ghesquière's inspired futurism?  Whatever the reasoning might be, one cannot ignore the turmoil of existence has arrived from all corners, and fashion, as an aesthetical vanguard, is very adept at mirroring aspirations.  Even if it is the end, creativity can be found in everything. 

A stunning collection.

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(A.Glass 2024)