Louis Vuitton F/W 2022.23 Paris

[Lola701]

Wouldn't that be something. I know it is a dream but do you ever think that could be a possibility? Or they'll ever look for someone new? I feel like they are just gonna keep Virginie. Boo. It seems like it could be too high risk / high reward in their eyes. Maybe I will go to the store sometime and plant the seed about Nicolas and tell all the SA's to tell their manager and manager tell their boss and so on and so on just so I can say I tried heh.

Everything is possible. Karl joined Chanel at 50 after all…
And Nicolas hasn’t done Couture yet.
Virginie is there but we can all agree that Chanel is not above everything like it used to be. At one point they will need something else to rely on than logos and bags.

 

[Marc10]

The first few looks were promising, but then it nosedived from there.

He DESPERATELY needs a new stylist. Someone with more restrain, even more minimalist, who can help him streamline and edit his ideas into looks. Cause whatever is going on with MAS is just not working. This is almost cartoonish looking.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

I think there are a lot of LVMH/Ghesquiere loyalists out there who are unable to express a critical viewpoint without fear of being banned for life. This is Annie Hall taking an acid trip to the circus. There are some nice pants, tops, and a decent dress here and there, in the first half. The second half is when the acid kicks in. The graffiti prints are juvenile and offensive to the eye. The photographic prints belong at urban outfitters, not Louis Vuitton. Once again he has completely forgotten that women have shape. Why bother with structure if it's going to widen the body rather than conform to it? It's obvious that people are jaded by what's in front of them just because it's Louis Vuitton and NG. Had this collection come from a no name in London, no one would blink an eye. NG is taking advantage of his position by offering the sloppiest and frumpiest clothes imaginable without consequence. What a luxury it must be to have people rave over a such a big pile of sh*t. He had such an amazing start. This just goes to show the power of marketing and conglomerates. It's twisted and unfair, but if it sells bags then who cares right?

 

[Ghesquiere32]

This collection was hideous

 

[gossiping]

this is pure bad taste. unflattering. i loved his collections at the start of his LV tenure but it just gets worse and worse nowadays. even the accessories are not good anymore.

 

[jeanclaude]

This collection was about "The impermanence and beautiful volatility of adolescence"...the only link with adolescence here is that this feels as ugly and weird as when hair starts to grow in new places.

Middle age crisis...Nico is joining team Slimane/Simons here!

 

[Frederic01]

This just says it all really.

If you’ve been on TikTok, you’ve probably noticed that ties are making a comeback, styled with t-shirts, dresses and school girl-ish outfits. Ghesquière presented a case for making the tie look less formal and even more cool...

W Magazine

So, if its on the TikTok kids then it must be automatically CoOL and of enough cultural value to be interpreted at Paris fashion week by one of the world's most talented designers at one of the worlds most important brands? Seriously? These marketing and design people spend way too much on social media trying hard to find out what the next big "trend" will be that they can bring to their next fashion show in the attempt to seem "fashion-forward" and "of-the-moment". The TikTok people are having the last laugh though because those "trends" rise and die within weeks, maybe months. By the time the boomers get onto it, it's already over, and there's already something new.

Besides all of that, I absolutely hate it when Ghesquiere goes into is weird retro-trashy-90's mood. The last time he did it (Spring Summer 2021) was as disastrous as this. I don't know what happened but around that time he got suddenly obsessed with bad 90's taste and from then on in, 90's had him in a chokehold. There was some light at the end of the tunnel with last season, but I see he's regressed back now.

TBH the only good part of this show was that passage of four embroidered kind of cut-out dresses paired with turtlenecks and knee high boots. It was interesting and chic and giving me flashbacks to his Balenciaga days. The rest, with all those ghastly prints and abominable styling by Marie-Amelie is just absolute trash. Really bad taste, pretentious trash.

 

[Lola701]

I had to double check at the collection to see if something is wrong with me for liking this but I really like it…LOL.
I really like a lot of individual pieces and the feeling of the collection. Maybe it’s because I do not consume Ghesquiere’s stuff in silhouettes anymore that I can appreciate a lot of pieces…

I’m less of a fan of the sweatpants and the David Sims photos-turned-prints but i really like it and the details are great as usual.

Will it change the course of fashion? No. Is it an important show for Nicolas of his body of work? No. But I think it does the job.

 

[THD96]

Middle age crisis...Nico is joining team Slimane/Simons here!

But what set Nicolas apart from Slimane/Simons was that he was willing to take a risk and be experimental with his collections. Can we say the same thing about the other two? I mean with Hedi just copy and paste the same formula from one house and apply it to another. And Raf still thinks that his clients are the same as 20 years ago when in fact most of them already moved on/grown out of it.

Does his experiments always work, absolutely not, there are collections that I still don't understand how it happened (FW19). But I still appreciated it because he was willing to go there. I mean nowadays, who even goes there anymore? Designers that are in corporate groups are getting lazy so they just go for an easy route to make the bosses happy. Nicolas can do that, why would he challenge himself every season with new ideas when he can just send out easy merchandise that will help sell the bags. After all, it's LV the bags will always be more important than the clothes.

The TikTok people are having the last laugh though because those "trends" rise and die within weeks, maybe months. By the time the boomers get onto it, it's already over, and there's already something new.

His clothes were never for social media or "cool kids". It's for the people that have taste, whether you consider them good taste or bad taste, it's up to you. But these clothes were never meant to be flashy on social media. If he wants to court the TikTok crowds, I'm sure the clothes will never be this extreme.

 

[jeanclaude]

But what set Nicolas apart from Slimane/Simons was that he was willing to take a risk and be experimental with his collections. Can we say the same thing about the other two? I mean with Hedi just copy and paste the same formula from one house and apply it to another. And Raf still thinks that his clients are the same as 20 years ago when in fact most of them already moved on/grown out of it.

I compared Nico with the other two, because it seems he is beginning to be obssesed with youth and teenagers too. In terms of creativity, even though I don´t like his collections for LV, you can tell he tries to create something (unlike the other two).

I just wish he could get his magic back, like it was at Balenciaga...

 

[Nomar]

The first and second half of the collection look like they were designed by two different people. I personally thought that the first half was quite excellent, I was like wow this seems a lot more restrained from Nicolas. The outwear was lovely and everything looked quite easy to wear. Then came those hideous prints and oversized polos and it all went downhill after that.

 

[Ken Doll Jenner]

I just want him to go back to his 2014-2017ish days. There are imperfect collections during that period (S/S 2016, Resort 2017, F/W 2017) but at least his ideas were more streamlined and some gems were still found amid MAS’ overstyled messes. He did make a return to form with S/S 2020 where came back to the 60s-70s silhouettes but ever since that collection his collections have seen a downfall again. There are exceptional separates here, and I am particularly interested in seeing how some of the shirts look without the circus of oversized layering, but as we can clearly see here, MAS has run amok with eccentricities.

 

[GERGIN]

MAS = Move Away Stylist.

 

[Lola701]

But what set Nicolas apart from Slimane/Simons was that he was willing to take a risk and be experimental with his collections. Can we say the same thing about the other two? I mean with Hedi just copy and paste the same formula from one house and apply it to another. And Raf still thinks that his clients are the same as 20 years ago when in fact most of them already moved on/grown out of it.

Does his experiments always work, absolutely not, there are collections that I still don't understand how it happened (FW19). But I still appreciated it because he was willing to go there. I mean nowadays, who even goes there anymore? Designers that are in corporate groups are getting lazy so they just go for an easy route to make the bosses happy. Nicolas can do that, why would he challenge himself every season with new ideas when he can just send out easy merchandise that will help sell the bags. After all, it's LV the bags will always be more important than the clothes.



His clothes were never for social media or "cool kids". It's for the people that have taste, whether you consider them good taste or bad taste, it's up to you. But these clothes were never meant to be flashy on social media. If he wants to court the TikTok crowds, I'm sure the clothes will never be this extreme.

I agree with you for the most part but let’s be honest, everybody is courting the TikTok and millenials crowd. They are the big spenders today and they are the ones who are driving the industry economically.

But Nicolas has always designed with the street in mind. His clothes have always had that street edge. He has always liked mixing things. At Balenciaga, it was more about fabrics and at Vuitton it seems to be more about shapes and decoration.

I think he is a designer who totally understand the time, the way people shops and wears clothes. I’m someone who wears his clothes but you simply cannot buy or appreciate Vuitton the same way as Balenciaga. The Vuitton customer is after all a luxury customer. And I think his collections somehow responds to that complexity while giving something to his devotees.

The biggest difference between Nicolas and the Slimane or Simons is that he has evolved with his women. His work is evolutive. Celine by Hedi Slimane seems to alienate the people who wore Dior Homme or followed him at Saint Laurent.
Raf Simone’s work from Jil Sander, Dior, Calvin Klein, Prada or his own line has no sense of continuity whether is menswear or womenswear.

I can wear one of those jackets with the boots from Balenciaga resort 2012 or wear the blue pantsuit with the loafers from his Art Nouveau collection.

There’s this actress, Marina Fois, who mostly wears Nicolas clothes IRL. I’ve seen her often in Paris and it’s so interesting to see her mix his clothes from Vuitton or Balenciaga.

 

[THD96]

I can wear one of those jackets with the boots from Balenciaga resort 2012 or wear the blue pantsuit with the loafers from his Art Nouveau collection.

But how do you wear the f/w 2019? It seems impossible to wear it at first sight. That collection was the most extreme in his career. I hate it at first but now I'm low-key love it . After that collection, I think I can handle anything from him and MAS. I wish he would go extreme one more time before he leaves just to freak people out. I mean this collection is pretty "tamed" and people already have strong reactions about it.

There’s this actress, Marina Fois, who mostly wears Nicolas clothes IRL. I’ve seen her often in Paris and it’s so interesting to see her mix his clothes from Vuitton or Balenciaga.

This is why I don't get the criticism about him doesn't understand the female forms anymore. I don't think his clients will buy his clothes if it wasn't flattering on their bodies. The styling is complicated not the clothes. Unless you're wearing a full look (honestly who does, nobody got time to do that much layering every day) you can live in these clothes.

 

[90sFan]

Yes. He signed a 5 years contract with Vuitton in 2013 and resigned in 2018.
Personally my dream has always been to see him take over Chanel because I still think that he understand the way a certain type of women wants to dress. He has range and working for a Couture will allow him to express that in a way that working for his own brand or a brand like Vuitton doesn’t.

I like the idea of him starting his own brand but I think that LVMH will test the water with Phoebe Philo first.

I’m very critical of MAS but I love the fact that even after more than 20 years of working together, she is still pushing herself and Nicolas…Unlike Carine who is relying on the same tricks she used in 2000.

And about Nicolas, I really love his clothes obviously but also the consistency of his vision. Vuitton from 2022 doesn’t look like Vuitton from 2018 that doesn’t look like Vuitton from 2014 but all of that still have the same handwriting. It has an identity, which is of course what I respect the most in designers.

Carine's styling was always the cheapest of the sorts.

 

[GivenchyAddict]

Last season, I was so happy because the collection was absolutely great but this one I can see few nice pieces there and there that's all.

I don't hate it but I clearly will not remember it.

 

[Bernie Flood]

Nicolas should just take an inspiration from his 2000’s Balenciaga collection.

 

[Fiercification]

Definitely would echo what others have already said. A couple of good looks, but the collection has way too many ideas running through it and it's simply not cohesive enough to make a real statement; at least at the moment. Last season managed to do that with such confidence.

I never bother to watch shows anymore but I think the opening looks benefit from being seen in motion/video, as they move quite well. I particularly like the proportions of the blazers, even though I associate Ghesquière with a tighter silhouette. The last section is just awful though; leave those hypey logos and clashing dress codes to Raf please.

 

[Lola701]

But how do you wear the f/w 2019? It seems impossible to wear it at first sight. That collection was the most extreme in his career. I hate it at first but now I'm low-key love it . After that collection, I think I can handle anything from him and MAS. I wish he would go extreme one more time before he leaves just to freak people out. I mean this collection is pretty "tamed" and people already have strong reactions about it.



This is why I don't get the criticism about him doesn't understand the female forms anymore. I don't think his clients will buy his clothes if it wasn't flattering on their bodies. The styling is complicated not the clothes. Unless you're wearing a full look (honestly who does, nobody got time to do that much layering every day) you can live in these clothes.

Fall 2019 was the Pompidou/Gaultier collection…
I don’t find it particularly extreme compared for example to the resort 2020 for example. But for me, nothing will ever be as extreme as many of his collections at Balenciaga.
His proposition for Vuitton is strong, don’t get me wrong and he is challenging our eyes and taste every season but Balenciaga was maybe more extreme in terms of fabrication.
In a way what he does at Vuitton (runway and commercial) is designed with a projection of touching a large range of people.

Regarding the female forms, They had enough Jersey dresses and A-line dresses each season in the stores. And to be honest, not all the women think about wearing something « flattering ». I know I don’t. I mean, « flattering » is not a word that comes to my mind when I buy something…I know what I like, I know what looks good on me, I know what I want my clothes to tell about me and I know which kinds of risks I’m willing to take in terms of fashion.
And when it comes to shows, it’s all a matter of proportions after all.

Except for the influencers who goes on FW and celebrities on the RC nobody wears a whole runway look in real life. I love plenty of things in this collection, plenty of color combinations or silhouettes and pieces. I’m curious to see how some of the pieces will be translated in commercial versions.