Cruise collections are designed with late summer travel in mind; wardrobe additions for holidays to far-flung locations where summer may last a little longer. Nicolas Ghesquiere also had his mind set on travel as he chose Kyoto, in Japan, for his fourth Cruise presentation since joining venerable luxury brand Louis Vuitton as artistic director of women's collections in November 2013. His previous Cruise shows have been set against bastions of Modernist architecture. In 2015, the brand chose Bob Hope's spaceship-inspired concrete villa at the edge of Palm Springs, followed by Oscar Niemeyer's Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum in 2016. For this year's spectacle, guests, led by actresses Michelle Williams and Jennifer Connelly, who donned a forest-green belted Louis Vuitton tracksuit for the occasion, made their way to the Miho Museum, located in a nature preserve in the Shiga Prefecture, south-east of Kyoto. Opened in 1997, the museum is home to the private collection of Mihoko Koyama, heiress to the Toyobo textile company fortune, who commissioned IM Pei to design a home for her museum of treasures. The architect is best known as the man who gave the Louvre its pyramid.
Surrounded by verdant forests and sloping hills, Pei's futuristic wood, glass and steel structure resembles a clandestine hideaway, half-hidden by foliage and extending underground, with rooms carved directly into Shigaraki mountain rock. "I visited the Miho Museum a few years ago and was fascinated by IM Pei's concept of the harmony between architecture and nature," said Ghesquiere, explaining his choice of venue.
Once the imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1994; for his collection, Ghesquiere took inspiration from the island nation's interplay between tradition and modernity. He first explored its art, culture and otherworldly vistas as a young designer travelling the world. "It was one of the first places I travelled to when I was seeking inspiration, some 20 years ago and I've been a regular visitor ever since," he explained post-show.
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Japanese actress Rila Fukushima opened the show, followed by a cast of models arriving on a conveyor belt before taking to the white-carpeted runway, which extended from the museum's entrance through a metal tunnel and over a suspension bridge connecting two mountain valleys. A dazzling showcase of traditional and contemporary arts and crafts, the collection incorporated details inspired by martial arts uniforms, ink paintings and ceremonial dress. Ghesquiere refashioned Obi belts, traditionally used to fasten kimonos, into tailored trousers and silk dresses; gold evening dresses referenced Noh theatre costumes, and the cap sleeves of leather jackets referenced period Samurai warrior costumes. Accessories too received a Japanese treatment, as bags combined Louis Vuitton's monogram with the tradition of Kabuki theatre masks in anime-like colours.
Before designing this year's Cruise collection, Ghesquiere had watched Stray Cat Rock, director Yasuharu Hasebe's 1970 erotic thriller starring a gang of all-female bikers. At Louis Vuitton, the hard-living heroines inspired patchworked furs, black leathers and stud detailing. For vivid large-scale prints, placing colourful Kabuki masks, fantasy characters and icons on sequinned dresses and bags, Ghesquiere collaborated with legendary Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto. A graduate of Bunka fashion college, Yamamoto rose to fame in the 1970s as one of the first Japanese designers to stage his collections in London and later Paris. For David Bowie, Yamamoto imagined Easter-inspired costumes for the stage. Samurai warriors, ancient arts and female bikers – Louis Vuitton Cruise 2018 is a tour de force of Japanese culture past and present, finished by Parisian artisans. As Ghesquiere said: "This collection is the culmination of what Japan has given to me for a very long time."
(Image credit: (c)Hirokazu OHARA2017)
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