Time is of the essence for Nicolas Ghesquière who is the host of this year’s fashion blockbuster at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About Time: Fashion and Duration opens its doors in May following the star-studded gala that has become customary for the museum and a milestone in the fashion calendar.
His latest show for Louis Vuitton collection, unveiled in Paris last night, was a homage to the theme of 2020 with the idea of “pasts” and the entanglement of different eras as a starting point.
The Louis Vuitton designer mashed personalities and periods of history into what he described as an “anachrony of genres”.
His aim was to rebel against the a la mode idea of “total look” and the practice by which die-hard fashion fans and influencers wear only the latest must have outfit from the hot brand of the moment - in favour of an approach to dressing in which is free from rules.
“It can simply be the pleasure of dressing and its many possibilities, free of protocol or constraint. Taking what we already have at home and mixing it with what we like that’s new” said the designer, in a statement issued before the show.
Ghesquière worked with a costume designer to dress a choir of 200 characters which provided a backdrop to his showcase. Costumer Milena Canonero, whose world includes “A Clockwork Orange '' and “The Shining”, outfitted the vocalists turned models in outfits which spanned 15th Century to the 1950s. On the catwalk, the collection was equally entangled with anoraks and Nineties slip-dresses presented alongside oversized 18th Century gowns. Tonal leather and Eighties power jackets were also included in this period drama.
