Paris (AFP)
Louis Vuitton closed the week of women's ready-to-wear in Paris on Tuesday with a collection that erases the boundaries between male and female, for a "neutral" wardrobe intended for "strong personalities".
Health crisis obliges, the parade took place in two waves under the roofs of the Samaritaine, the Art Nouveau department store of LVMH whose inauguration initially scheduled for April, after 15 years of work, was postponed to 2021.
Fluid pants, handbag slipped carelessly on the back, derby: the first look summarizes the approach of Nicolas Ghesquière, creator of the house's women's collections.
On the sweater that goes with it, it is written "Vote", a thinly veiled appeal to American Democrats from the designer who had already made a noticeable anti-Trump outing a year ago.
After the American president came to the inauguration of a new Louis Vuitton workshop in Texas, Nicolas Ghesquière had refused "any association" with Donald Trump in a post on Instagram, accompanied by the hashtags #trumpisajoke (Trump is a farce ) and #homophobia.
Back to clothes.
"What would an in-between garment look like? What cut could dissolve the feminine and the masculine?" Asks the stylist in the parade's intent note.
Wide shoulders, trench coats and bombers, beige or sequined pantsuits, shorts and T-shirts: this unisex wardrobe, in which Nicolas Ghesquière's ingenious cut flourishes, gives classic or street wear pieces an unexpected allure.
The most eye-catching element?
Clogs raised on heels to become pumps.
"Color the neutral, forge its character, invite it to radicalism, give it a personality. This is only the beginning of an open, stimulating and fundamentally voluntary reflection", promises Nicolas Ghesquière.
The track "Neutral" composed by DJ Tangui Destable accompanied the parade, while extracts from the film Les Ailes du Désir by Wim Wenders were projected on the walls of the Samaritaine.
© 2020 AFP