Katie Grand recalls highlights from ten years of styling for Louis Vuitton, referring to each of the collections shot by Dazed in the April issue...
A/W06
“I call this collection ‘Sprouse the Second’. A lot of leopard had been shown at the men’s shows that season and Marc and I liked the idea of using it in some way. He suggested using the Sprouse leopard, which was first commissioned in 2000. Then we started looking at images of Stephen Sprouse and the ideas for the hats came from there. I remember calling Stephen Jones at 3am asking if he could come over to help, and Stephen being Stephen, he said, ‘Of course, see you in half an hour.’ We’ve worked with him most seasons since.”
S/S07
“Lots of the embroideries were extremely complex in this collection. After hours and hours of handwork, we were dipping the embroideries in bleach. Unfortunately there were a few last-minute hiccups where the embroidery completely disintegrated as the bleach was too strong!”
A/W05
“I remember the original design team heading off to Scotland to go and look at various castles for inspiration and getting absolutely terrified about ghosts. Peter Copping, then head of studio, swore he woke up with someone sat on his chest.”
S/S08
“They started working with Richard Prince early on in the season. He would send his canvasses to the studio and we were literally putting them on the photocopier to work out the placements for the bags. The whole studio was full of his paintings in various sizes and colours – I remember just laughing about how they were all propped up on the floor! The idea of the nurses came about really late, probably about a week before the show, and Marc suggested opening with Stephanie Seymour as she was a collector of Prince. I was so excited to meet her. This was the season that the fittings went on for hours and hours as all of the ‘nurses’ were so famous and so chatty.”
A/W09
“This was the season we looked at lots of French couture clients past and present. We wanted a very decadent and opulent look – almost Louis XIV – mixed with Deee-Lite. So the shoes were brocade and had an old-French-meets-Lady-Miss-Kier look. Lucy, one of the designers, tied a bit of pink silk around her ponytail which I loved as it looked like rabbit ears (and I’d just been bought a rabbit). And thus, in my mind, it became the ‘Bunny’ season.”
S/S02
“This season is fondly known as ‘Fairytale’. Julie Verhoeven worked on the bags and the collection had a very painterly feel – there was lots of appliqué, denim and suede.
There’s a pair of boots with the same technique featured in the exhibition.”
