Louis Vuitton and the Sirens of Lake Maggiore

Louis Vuitton may be the most powerful luxury brand in the world, but some things are still beyond its control. The weather, for example. On Wednesday, May 24, LVMH Locomotive, whose turnover in 2022 will exceed 20 billion euros, organized a cruise parade at the Isola Bella site on Lake Maggiore in Italy. This spectacular island, owned by the Borromeo family, home to thirty-two inhabitants and which has never been privatized for such an event, was lashed by rain throughout the evening. In itself, there is nothing more banal than precipitation in the spring, but this seriously upset the plans.

Nicolas Ghesquière, the artistic director of the women’s collections, has always chosen places with special architecture for the cruise show. In the past, he invested in the Bob and Dolores Hope designed by John Lautner in Palm Springs (California), the Niteroi Museum of Contemporary Art (Brazil) by Oscar Niemeyer, the Miho Museum designed by Yeo Ming Pei nearby. Kyoto (Japan), or the Salk Institute in California. This season he dropped anchor for the first time at Isola Bella in Italy. “An island that echoes a journey, a lake, a palace, a garden… a fairyland, mosaic-lined caves, statues, the unicorn emblem of the Borromeo family, terraces, an atrium”Nicolas Ghesquière explains.

The parade was to take place in the garden, a magnificent pyramid-shaped ensemble lined with ten-stepped terraces culminating in a large statue of a unicorn flanked by the god of love. Around the Teatro Massimo, fountains, obelisks and numerous 17th century sculptures^e A century depicting allegories of seasons, winds and rivers. Beds of azaleas, box hedges, and escalades of roses, rhododendrons, grapefruit and orange trees complete this idyllic setting, which attracted more than 483,000 visitors in 2022.

The collection is designed to dialogue with the place. Nicolas Ghesquière talks about A “A tale without nostalgia, about waiting for the future. The mysteries of the lakes we like to imagine are inhabited by fabulous creatures, the postmodern wyvern, a legendary figure, a kind of freshwater siren that crosses dry land to join the plants.. Against a monotonous gray and rain-laden sky, the parade finally moved to the Palais de l’île, a 17th-century baroque castle.^e An absolutely glorious century, but one whose gold and old paintings don’t exactly offer an ideal setting “Botanical Cruise” Nicolas Ghesquière dreamed.

The designer was faithful to his habits by offering an uncompromising collection, experimenting with textiles, multiplying superpositions, antagonisms, gathering in progressions. “From water to botanical”. Bralettes are printed with water stains, skirt chips lead to rows of flippers, neoprene wetsuits blend with diving suits.

Dresses like statues

Slowly the nautical vocabulary mixes with the baroque, the ornaments are enhanced by embroidered silk georgette trousers, skirts entwined with iridescent sequins as large as fish scales. Dresses with stone-frozen drapes, XXL volume, wing-like puffs or pointed sleeves evoke sculptures. “Combination between the familiar and the singular”, sums up Nicolas Ghesquière. The result, leaning distinctly on the Cingula side, would certainly have been better displayed in gardens, in the open air, than in rows of rooms laden with gilt and canvases.

The label also took care to record the parade in the gardens the afternoon before the show, between two rain showers – we had to start four times to get a full dry sequence. “As soon as the weather gave us a twenty-minute break, we were off.”, explains Pietro Beccari, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton. Before joining Vuitton in February, the Italian orchestrated the growth of Fendi and Dior, two other arms of the LVMH group. He has been largely idle since his arrival: he hired pop star Pharrell Williams as artistic director of the men’s collection and stepped up the pace of the parades, with a surprise women’s show in Seoul on April 29.

Two parades in less than a month, isn’t it too much? “With 436 million views, the Seoul show is the most watched in Vuitton’s history.Welcome to Pietro Beccari. This is an experience we will repeat. We are a handbag brand, ready-to-wear is new to our story [depuis 1997]. You have to win market share in this area. » According to him, the parade is the best way to achieve this because it “Tell a story, create a world” Around clothes and important “Never stop, always innovate, continue people’s journey”.

The CEO also bets on contrasts with two completely different designers: for women, Nicolas Ghesquière, a technician for whom fashion is a textile research laboratory, and for men, Pharrell Williams, a popular music producer who has always felt the celebration of his will. songs or in his brief forays into fashion. ” He is here “Dream Team”! »– says Pietro Beccari. Pharrell Williams, who attended the show, will present on the first day of Paris Men’s Fashion Week on June 20. We will then see if the alchemy works as expected, or if, as in the case of Rain, Vuitton needs to rethink its strategy.