Louis Vuitton Cruise 2026 Avignon

[Kanzai]

No for me, NG’s work is not about nostalgia even though his aesthetic identity was build in the 1970’s/1980’s. Thierry Mugler was obsessed about the 1950’s but his work wasn’t about nostalgia.

What makes me say that Hedi is about nostalgia is because precisely it informs not just the clothes. If he does the 60’s it’s informed by a whole movement. His last collection for Celine was 60’s, the swinging London, Nico, from the hair to the allure of the girls. When he does the 70’s, it’s very much the same thing. When he does the 80’s it’s the same.

Every designer has that era that define their aesthetic without it being nostalgic.

When Nicolas did the Art Nouveau inspired collection you can’t really say that it’s nostalgic. I associate nostalgia with a certain romantism or melancholia. Something that is totally inexistant in Nicolas’s work.
And Nicolas always references the same decades, always does those télescopages.

But it’s just my interpretation of the thing. Maybe unpopular opinion but as time went I absolutely believe that Hedi was nostalgic of his youth.
It’s maybe why I can connect more with NG than Hedi. I understand his design language, his codes but it’s not incarnated. Hedi’s work is very much incarnated I absolutely enjoy watching it but it’s almost very stereotypical of a stuff I can’t connect with. It’s like the bourgeoise, the rock chick and the groupie.

And I have the same division with YSL and Karl for example. Karl is every women, Yves is a life long exploration of La bourgeoise. The same with Azzedine and Mugler…etc.

Nicolas approaches inspiration like an equation of space, history, and science fiction – whereas Hedi lives within the nostalgia itself. I think that’s partly because Nicolas belongs more to the avant-garde spectrum, isn’t that how we often classify designers like him? Those who are able to absorb the entirety of fashion history, inherit its codes, and then transform them into something deeply personal and instinctively their own.

Designers who draw inspiration from Eastern modernist architecture, like Armani, tend not to evoke nostalgia or melancholia. His worlds are composed, abstract, and quiet. In contrast, grand couturiers like Lacroix pull from the past to construct alternate realms – theatrical and escapist, that seem to long for departure from reality.

I’ve also always felt that Rei Kawakubo’s collections in the 90s carried a kind of delicate sorrow, something serene yet somber. That approaching, I believe, stems from her being a true avant-garde designer: someone who refuses to categorize themself within any fixed concept or era of fashion, they just do sh*ts they want. Modern can be sad and emo. Nicolas is defo this type.

 

[PDFSD]

No for me, NG’s work is not about nostalgia even though his aesthetic identity was build in the 1970’s/1980’s. Thierry Mugler was obsessed about the 1950’s but his work wasn’t about nostalgia.

What makes me say that Hedi is about nostalgia is because precisely it informs not just the clothes. If he does the 60’s it’s informed by a whole movement. His last collection for Celine was 60’s, the swinging London, Nico, from the hair to the allure of the girls. When he does the 70’s, it’s very much the same thing. When he does the 80’s it’s the same.

Every designer has that era that define their aesthetic without it being nostalgic.

When Nicolas did the Art Nouveau inspired collection you can’t really say that it’s nostalgic. I associate nostalgia with a certain romantism or melancholia. Something that is totally inexistant in Nicolas’s work.
And Nicolas always references the same decades, always does those télescopages.

But it’s just my interpretation of the thing. Maybe unpopular opinion but as time went I absolutely believe that Hedi was nostalgic of his youth.
It’s maybe why I can connect more with NG than Hedi. I understand his design language, his codes but it’s not incarnated. Hedi’s work is very much incarnated I absolutely enjoy watching it but it’s almost very stereotypical of a stuff I can’t connect with. It’s like the bourgeoise, the rock chick and the groupie.

And I have the same division with YSL and Karl for example. Karl is every women, Yves is a life long exploration of La bourgeoise. The same with Azzedine and Mugler…etc.

which Art Nouveau inspired one at Balenciaga ?

I find NG deeply nostalgic of retro futurism dreams of past decades everything is from a movie or designer that looked toward the future via the lens of their time.

For last 5 year the amount of flowery and dark romantic nostalgia infiltrated true the collection and this one is no different.

To say romanticism or melancholia is totally nonexistent in Nicholas’s work is absolutely an missinterpation of his designs and work, that his materials can be stiff or shiny as a board sure but there is romanticism and melancholia in his work since he joined LV even more so the last years
It's like saying there is no romance in storyline´s in star wars because its set in space and has robots.while it's totally a running and significant role in various star wars narratives adding depth and complexity to the characters and their journeys

Even the fact that his type of NG girl is like a heroine either be taken from an manga or action or romance set in area´s past or dreams of future,
you can see him blending emotions into the build up of sets and stories woven into the collection to have drama and cinematography to steer emotion etc.

I think in one of the LV vids interviews sit downs recently he himself say his clothes are more romantic now.

It's just not so obvious as a Hedi version of his clothes nostalgic low fi approach to clothes he re appropriated.

Demna does the same concept of reappropriating realities of clothing via uniforms or typologies of people etc he just is more futuristic with it but ist same concept at base .

Science fiction deals allot with the human versus the advancement and both romanticism and melancholia are explored through various themes and narrative approaches to tell stories , i don't see NG take from his favorite genre and not have some feelings to express with it.

if not his clothes would be as dry as Courreges now is just design via futurism lens

 

[Lola701]

which Art Nouveau inspired one at Balenciaga ?

I find NG deeply nostalgic of retro futurism dreams of past decades everything is from a movie or designer that looked toward the future via the lens of their time.

For last 5 year the amount of flowery and dark romantic nostalgia infiltrated true the collection and this one is no different.

To say romanticism or melancholia is totally nonexistent in Nicholas’s work is absolutely an missinterpation of his designs and work, that his materials can be stiff or shiny as a board sure but there is romanticism and melancholia in his work since he joined LV even more so the last years
It's like saying there is no romance in storyline´s in star wars because its set in space and has robots.while it's totally a running and significant role in various star wars narratives adding depth and complexity to the characters and their journeys

Even the fact that his type of NG girl is like a heroine either be taken from an manga or action or romance set in area´s past or dreams of future,
you can see him blending emotions into the build up of sets and stories woven into the collection to have drama and cinematography to steer emotion etc.

I think in one of the LV vids interviews sit downs recently he himself say his clothes are more romantic now.

It's just not so obvious as a Hedi version of his clothes nostalgic low fi approach to clothes he re appropriated.

Demna does the same concept of reappropriating realities of clothing via uniforms or typologies of people etc he just is more futuristic with it but ist same concept at base .

Science fiction deals allot with the human versus the advancement and both romanticism and melancholia are explored through various themes and narrative approaches to tell stories , i don't see NG take from his favorite genre and not have some feelings to express with it.

if not his clothes would be as dry as Courreges now is just design via futurism lens

The Art Nouveau collection at Vuitton, SS2020.
For me, the Ghesquiere woman is an heroine, a conquérante. A bit like the Alaia woman.

Even when he did the liberty prints for SS2004 at Balenciaga, it never gave romantic or nostalgia to me.

I think there’s a softness, a flexibity, an ease to his work at Vuitton that didn’t exist at Balenciaga, which was super controlled but I just don’t get a sense of nostalgia through his work.

And it’s maybe because I’m not at all interested in Sci-Fi movies and things like that.

Maybe I don’t know how to make myself clear on that point but making flowy dresses doesn’t necessarily evoke to me romantism and nostalgia. You can have those elements in your body of work without being a defining part of your work. It’s really about the spirit for me.

When I look at Hedi’s work from his first womenswear collection (SS2013) to his last (SS2025), I feel a great sense of nostalgia. It does sometimes looks like maybe an elevated version of the past. The collection is about Anita Pallenberg? The models would literally look like her and the soundtrack will either be a song from that era or a young rock band making it sound like the past.

Maybe what helps Nicolas is that his point of reference, in the retro-futurism, is an idealize version of the future through the lens of the past. So it’s maybe more layered.

Both interpretations are valid. One just touch me more from a pure clothing aspect. But then again from a story telling aspect, it can’t be compared.

Hedi always had to build a world. Nicolas is a singular voice in a world.

 

[tourbillions]

for me NG is as fahion forward as it can get. He is always pushing to change details and pushing on experimentations on the clothes. He is such a fashion geek, the same as how futuristic some of the japanese designers works are. Only his silhouettes are more controlled and still somehow grounded. I don't feel any nostalgia in his work nor can i even compare it to brands like pierre cardin whose work was about the future etc. etc.

As for hedi, i feel that his clothes are all just how it was from his inspirations but he repackages it with his world-building. He will take moments from the past and put in the settings of today.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

It was very good and had amazing moments but unfortunately he had no vision, he did not have any vuitton girl in mind. There was no wardrobe to be built, and in that sense his Louis Vuitton was truly for the ones looking for disposable fashion. Specially since every season could be wildly different from each other.

IsabelMarantBoy, Disco54 and tourbillions are right in a sense.
Marc had more wow moments, but Nicolas is building a voice, a wardrobe and a style.

But if you take a step back, many people were doing the same at that/this time.
Even Nicolas during the 00s was always proposing lots of ideas and moods not necessarily related to each other (what do they have in common Balenciaga fw06 and ss07? and those two with ss08?)

By the time Nicolas moved to Vuitton, Hedi was building his Saint Laurent, and Alessandro at Gucci, and later Demna at Balenciaga.
Often you had the feeling of seeing very similar collections, with variations, but not detached seasonally from each other.
Fashion changed in the 2012-2015 span: it was not about being surprised every six months anymore, but building a wardrobe and an unmistakable world.

 

[tourbillions]

For louis vuitton whose main business was leather goods, it was important to build a woman for the rtw. Otherwise no one will really subscribe to the rtw part of the business and probably why a lot of marc's looks only saw the runway.

Most successful brand + designer partnerships is when the designer was able to build a look for the brand. Even demna did it successfully at balenciaga, also michele at gucci but the problem is always where to go after a few seasons of redoig that look and how to add to it.

I feel NG is succeeding in expanding his louis vuitton and shes becoming more confident every season.

Unfortunately for demna instead of expounding on his balenciaga silhouettes, he quickly resorted to gimmicks.

 

[jeanclaude]

For me the big difference in NG work is that Balenciaga felt like an utopian retro-futurism reality (beautiful and optimistic)...but now at Vuitton it feels like a dystopian retro-futurism reality (ugly and depressing).

That´s why I am not attracted to his work now, there is a change of energy.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

So interesting what you say, jeanclaude.

Fashion has become a serious affair.

People study expensive masters of "luxury management".
One can be at a top position in a bank or at Unilever and the day after become CEO at a couture house.

Now, if you explain to these people that the billions of their business and of their investors depend on the seasonal whims of a weird gay who probably was bullied at school... I doubt they would accept it easily.

That is why everybody is creating wardrobes, the same pieces over and over trying to make them timeless by repetition.
That is also why phoebephiloism is so successful: because it is serious.

When your company is worth 2 Billions, frivolity must go out through the window.

 

[Lola701]

For louis vuitton whose main business was leather goods, it was important to build a woman for the rtw. Otherwise no one will really subscribe to the rtw part of the business and probably why a lot of marc's looks only saw the runway.

I think in the beginning, we saw the expansion of runway shows as a plus for fashion but it quickly became a hard thing to control.
When you are designing that many collections, are responsible for so many capsules, the wardrobe thing kind of become inevitable at some point.

Indeed, you said it all: Marc only designed the runway collections. I don’t know if he didn’t care about the precollections but he let them to others (Julie and Peter). So in a way, he was the image and the others were the business/reality.

The funny thing is that Marc is still operating the same way today. He does the runway shows, is implicated in the RC looks and that’s it. And obviously, that way of operating is totally outdated.

I have a weird relationship with Marc’s Louis Vuitton. He had a fantastic run.
My favorite collections from him are totally different from my favorite shows from him. FW2000, FW2006, SS2008, SS & FW2009 are still fabulous. Exquisite clothes.

However, a lot of shows people loves from him (me included) were great moments! And in those moments, the clothes were almost a supporting act. People remember the Stephen Sprouse moment from SS2001. It wasn’t about the clothes. The train station, the elevator…etc. Great visual impact, great bags, sometimes great shoes but it wasn’t about the clothes. They were hard to get anyway. The irony is that Marc is really the American Sportswear designer but as the shows became bigger at Vuitton, the clothes and bags became harder to get in stores.

When he designed new bags, they never really made it to the permanent catalogue. And at some point, when the shows became bigger, he only made elevated version of iconic Vuitton bags (that were stunning). However, when he designed new monograms, it became fairly permanent.

And as @Monsieur Cristobal said, fashion has become a serious affair. And the result of that is that the concept of fans in a way is totally different from the one of customers. Even a brand like Rick Owens became « serious ». The people wearing the brand are not seen as « Freaks » anymore. Matter of fact, who would have believed that Rick Owens would have been worn by all the biggest athletes of the world?

So the wardrobe approach becomes inevitable and it also create a structure that allows designers to express their creativity.

 

[PPPT]

Why is there no LV Women’s Pre-Fall 2025? LV used to hold big Pre-Fall shows in April (Seoul 2023, Shanghai 2024).

 

[Lola701]

Why is there no LV Women’s Pre-Fall 2025? LV used to hold big Pre-Fall shows in April (Seoul 2023, Shanghai 2024).

To reduce costs.
Officially they prefer to focus on resort shows that have more impact for clients and for the brand.
In reality it’s just cutting costs. I think we touched on it last year when they showed in Seoul but that strategy that Beccari carried from Dior didn’t have a long-standing impact as Resort (who is more directional than Prefall) is shown not so long after.

They will do trunk shows and local events as they used to do before.

It was a bit ambitious imo to fly the team over, to book a venue for a glorified trunk show.

They released the lookbook/campaign for the Prefall on IG, starring Jaiden Smith, Lous and the Yakuza and others celebrities. It hits the stores next month.

And for Pharrell, they literally sponsored this year’s MET Gala and when you talk with people close with the brand, it doesn’t seems like menswear, while successful, is really expanding that much. So I guess the impact of the MET is probably the same as the one from a destination show.

 

[reese06]

I feel Alessandro really ushered in the current era of collections that prioritize styling and repetition over proposing truly new ideas or strong, cohesive themes. I love that you can look at a Frida or Marc collection and absolutely know what season it came from.

I find it frustrating how much weight is given to this idea of “world building,” and designers pushing the idea of a “wardrobe”, as if a someone has to commit to one strict aesthetic. Maybe I’m misunderstanding the use of building a wardrobe as it’s used on this board?

Marc’s Vuitton woman was someone who loved fashion. Nicolas’ Balenciaga woman was too. But his Vuitton woman is a victim more times than not. Give me the former two’s wardrobe building over what he’s doing now.
Up until 2019/maybe 2020ish, there was still a sense of challenge, in his work, but it was relatable.

I like the boots in this collection and a few separates but I can’t help but think he needs to work for a house with defined codes where he has to show restraint and some guidelines. His Vuitton shows he does not need his own brand.

 

[Creative]

Nicolas approaches inspiration like an equation of space, history, and science fiction – whereas Hedi lives within the nostalgia itself. I think that’s partly because Nicolas belongs more to the avant-garde spectrum, isn’t that how we often classify designers like him? Those who are able to absorb the entirety of fashion history, inherit its codes, and then transform them into something deeply personal and instinctively their own.

Designers who draw inspiration from Eastern modernist architecture, like Armani, tend not to evoke nostalgia or melancholia. His worlds are composed, abstract, and quiet. In contrast, grand couturiers like Lacroix pull from the past to construct alternate realms – theatrical and escapist, that seem to long for departure from reality.

I’ve also always felt that Rei Kawakubo’s collections in the 90s carried a kind of delicate sorrow, something serene yet somber. That approaching, I believe, stems from her being a true avant-garde designer: someone who refuses to categorize themself within any fixed concept or era of fashion, they just do sh*ts they want. Modern can be sad and emo. Nicolas is defo this type.

Could Nicolas be any more nostalgic? 🤣 He lives in the 80s.

Anyways, I find nostalgic people very charming and interesting. The problem is when they can’t get over it (Nicolas at the moment).

What Hedi does is way more current.

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

Could Nicolas be any more nostalgic? 🤣 He lives in the 80s.

I do think that Nicolas sci-fi and futurism are more retro than visionary. He shares that with Pierre Cardin.

Journalists always talk about Science Fiction and Nicolas, but the paradox is that, when the biggest sci-fi blockbuster of our time (Dune) looked for futuristic inspiration, they found it in Rick Owens extra-terrestrial priestesses and Demna's apocalyptic Balenciaga.