Nicolas Ghesquière - Designer, Creative Director of Louis Vuitton

[IsabelMarantBoy]

There were certain collections of his at Balenciaga that still hold up, I have a small collection of about 20 pieces of his work with most of it laying in the 2005-2006 range, like the narrow shouldered coats from Fall 2005 or the embellished "Devils in Balenciaga" tank and pleated wrap kilt skirt from Spring 2006 🩷 The technical skill and tailoring back at that house is unmatched in todays rather sloppy oversized fits most fashion houses go with these days.

Also absolutely agreed, Alber's work at Lanvin was so beautiful and ingenious, I'm shocked it hasn't shot up in price after his passing 💔 would love to collect more of that, but my heart lays with Theyskens 🥰 I have around 150 pieces from his tenures at Rochas and Nina Ricci.

 

[Steddycam91]

I recently skimmed through the System magazine interview Nicolas did in late 2012/early 2013, after he left Balenciaga and before he joined Vuitton, and little did he know...

system-magazine.com

Eleven years later and still hoping for them to wake up, but not counting on it.

I really admire Nicolas for, among many things, weathering the chaotic storm of the fashion industry over the past decade. Raf, Marc, Miuccia, Alber (RIP) all had their various struggles. Phoebe tapped out halfway through and is only just now coming back on more scaled-back terms. It's a lot of pressure, and I'm glad someone as genuinely accomplished and creative as Nicolas gets to be at the helm of the world's biggest luxury brand. I may not love everything he does, but I still appreciate his craft and uncompromising vision. It's a huge business and things have to sell, but you never get the feeling that Nicolas is restrained or limited.

That being said, there's an alternate Sliding Doors timeline where Nicolas worked it out with Kering and stayed at Balenciaga. Imagine how different fashion would be if that happened? I also think back to his final Balenciaga collection, and how playful and chic it was. I'll also never pass up the opportunity to repost these flawless coats, which I think about quite often...

vogue

vogue

 

[LadyJunon]

I recently skimmed through the System magazine interview Nicolas did in late 2012/early 2013, after he left Balenciaga and before he joined Vuitton, and little did he know...
View attachment 1256780
system-magazine.com

Eleven years later and still hoping for them to wake up, but not counting on it.

I think that he's quite spot on. It's already starting to hit with the brands that are big, but not too big to fail (Burberry, Givenchy, Ferragamo, Balenciaga, etc).

I really admire Nicolas for, among many things, weathering the chaotic storm of the fashion industry over the past decade. Raf, Marc, Miuccia, Alber (RIP) all had their various struggles. Phoebe tapped out halfway through and is only just now coming back on more scaled-back terms. It's a lot of pressure, and I'm glad someone as genuinely accomplished and creative as Nicolas gets to be at the helm of the world's biggest luxury brand. I may not love everything he does, but I still appreciate his craft and uncompromising vision. It's a huge business and things have to sell, but you never get the feeling that Nicolas is restrained or limited.

That being said, there's an alternate Sliding Doors timeline where Nicolas worked it out with Kering and stayed at Balenciaga. Imagine how different fashion would be if that happened? I also think back to his final Balenciaga collection, and how playful and chic it was. I'll also never pass up the opportunity to repost these flawless coats, which I think about quite often...

I could see Nicolas' Balenciaga eventually evolving to become somewhat like Fendi, where the brand distribution is relatively tight. Part of me wishes that Jacques Bogart never sold the company and had the initiative to mimic Chanel's model.

 

[Lola701]

When brands are not reaching billions of euros they can really focus on making clothes.

When brands have at their helm creative directors who have standards, they can focus on making quality clothes.
A lot of things can be said about Hedi in terms of design (And I’m the first one to criticize it), nothing can be said about his commitment to quality.
His approach to fashion is very noble because he is not a « geek designer » but you know that he will use the best denim, the best fabrics that will compliment his cut. That’s how you have timeless garments.


What I love the most about collecting clothes (I collect with the intent of wearing them first) is to see the evolution in a designer’s work or in techniques and things like that.

In Nicolas’s case, I think his relationship with the body has extremely evolved.
I think his work for Vuitton is a bit in the continuation of his last 4 seasons at Balenciaga. There’s a ease, a roundness in his clothes that was not present in most of his time at Balenciaga.
When I put one the blazers from FW2007 (I own two) or the blazer from the SS2006, they suddenly takes control of you! You stands differently, the armhole is very high, it changes the allure.
However, from 2011 to now, his clothes have a more everyday wear appeal. In a way you can forget about them.
It’s funny to think that at one point, Nicolas, alongside Pierre Hardy, was responsible for designing the most out of this world high sky heels in the world. When I look at the Maryjane from fw2006, I can’t believe that I used to wear them. Now the allure of the Ghesquiere woman has changed. She is mostly in flats and when she is on heels, it’s a walkable heel…They have an angry walk anyway on the runway. It wouldn’t have the same effect with high sky heels.

I have those clothes that I will pass on to my daughter or son. More than a testament of my taste (designers clothes or not), it also shows the evolution in fabrics, in finishings and things like that.
I have a 70’s camel hair cape that my mother made. It hasn’t moved on bit in 50 years. Amazing craftsmanship, made by hands. You wouldn’t find the same quality today unless if you are willing to pay Loro Piana prices. The same for the dresses she made for me up until I was 25. It’s totally worth it!

 

[Lola701]

I have a 70’s camel hair cape that my mother made. It hasn’t moved on bit in 50 years.

I need to learn to re-read myself lol…
A cape my grandmother made!

 

[LadyJunon]

Louis Vuitton will be showing their PF24 collection tomorrow in Shanghai:

 

[Kanzai]

He's so dedicated 😍

 

[Lola701]

Last year’s collection wasn’t designed for a show but a regular lookbook and some boutiques events. Pietro Beccari held a « last minute » show. And so, it was much more accessible, commercial, less thoughts-provoking or taste challenging than with his usual runway shows.

It will be interesting to see if this collection follow the same path or if it is designed with the performance aspect of the runway show in mind. Technically, this was conceived around the same time as his 10 years anniversary show.

Those AI are interesting. Maybe Vuitton will collaborate with a Chinese artist? Or are they collaborating with Murakami again and debuting this in Shanghai?

 

[PDFSD]

Last year’s collection wasn’t designed for a show but a regular lookbook and some boutiques events. Pietro Beccari held a « last minute » show. And so, it was much more accessible, commercial, less thoughts-provoking or taste challenging than with his usual runway shows.

It will be interesting to see if this collection follow the same path or if it is designed with the performance aspect of the runway show in mind. Technically, this was conceived around the same time as his 10 years anniversary show.

Those AI are interesting. Maybe Vuitton will collaborate with a Chinese artist? Or are they collaborating with Murakami again and debuting this in Shanghai?

the AI balloons are from the artist Sun Yitian
www.instagram.com/taki524

 

[Lola701]

the AI balloons are from the artist Sun Yitian
www.instagram.com/taki524

Thank you for the info.
Interesting. I have loved Nicolas’s collaborations so far. They are quite weird and quite detached from the usual roaster of Vuitton artists. Definitely excited.

 

[blueorchid]

US Vogue September 2024
"Going Deep"
Photographer: Justine Triet
Sittings Editor: Amanda Harlech
Featuring: Nicolas Ghesquière



Photographer: Steven Meisel
Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington
Hair: Guido Palau
Makeup: Pat McGrath
Model: Lulu Tenney, Sascha Rajasalu


US Vogue Digital Edition

 

[Alquimista]

He's in love. So cute.

Kuhse is very handsome and seems quiet just like Nicolas.

 

[Lola701]

That article is good. That’s maybe why Vogue is still interesting to me. Only there you can have those types of designers profiles.

Now that I think about it, Nicolas has always been in a relationship most of his professional life in the spotlight. That maybe helps to navigate through this industry, even more that he has always with industry people.

Those photos by Justine aren’t great though lol

 

[Caffeine]

I'll share a sad story of mine...
I loved his latest LV runway show so I ordered a dress from it. My boutique located my dress from a different location so I paid for it.
Fast forward, the dress never arrived. My suspicion is that my dress, fully paid for, was snatched by someone else in that boutique.
They gave me a new ETA which is in the winter. So I cancelled the order.
It just occurred to me that Nicholas is not at LV to sell RTW or fashion. He is there to sell bags and the LV logo.
As someone who used to pre-order his runway pieces in the 2006-2008 era (we paid 50% at trunk show to ensure our pieces and paid the rest upon arrival), I'm sadden by this experience.
What a waste of talent. He could have been at the helm of his own house and created extraordinary fashion, but he is now designing to sell the LV brand.

 

[Lola701]

I'll share a sad story of mine...
I loved his latest LV runway show so I ordered a dress from it. My boutique located my dress from a different location so I paid for it.
Fast forward, the dress never arrived. My suspicion is that my dress, fully paid for, was snatched by someone else in that boutique.
They gave me a new ETA which is in the winter. So I cancelled the order.
It just occurred to me that Nicholas is not at LV to sell RTW or fashion. He is there to sell bags and the LV logo.
As someone who used to pre-order his runway pieces in the 2006-2008 era (we paid 50% at trunk show to ensure our pieces and paid the rest upon arrival), I'm sadden by this experience.
What a waste of talent. He could have been at the helm of his own house and created extraordinary fashion, but he is now designing to sell the LV brand.

Sad to hear!
I’ve stopped the pre-order game a long time ago. The only sure way to get your piece is literally to place an order at the Re-See.
I usually wait to see what was produced from the runway show in order to purchase something…
Because from pieces that are worldwide exclusive (like 3 produced worldwide) to things that are only produced based on orders at resees, it’s better to have the diluted version of the runway look or the pieces from the show that were produced.

And it was worst during the Marc Jacobs days as the RTW infrastructure wasn’t developed.

But yes, Vuitton is not a fashion brand. It’s luxury brand, with a luxury goods heritage that does Fashion. That’s the promise and nothing more should be expected from this.

I have to say that I’m generally satisfied because the stores I get pieces from have a good selection and I don’t generally want extreme pieces from the runway.

So far the pieces I was lurking have been produced.

 

[Caffeine]

Sad to hear!
I’ve stopped the pre-order game a long time ago. The only sure way to get your piece is literally to place an order at the Re-See.
I usually wait to see what was produced from the runway show in order to purchase something…
Because from pieces that are worldwide exclusive (like 3 produced worldwide) to things that are only produced based on orders at resees, it’s better to have the diluted version of the runway look or the pieces from the show that were produced.

And it was worst during the Marc Jacobs days as the RTW infrastructure wasn’t developed.

But yes, Vuitton is not a fashion brand. It’s luxury brand, with a luxury goods heritage that does Fashion. That’s the promise and nothing more should be expected from this.

I have to say that I’m generally satisfied because the stores I get pieces from have a good selection and I don’t generally want extreme pieces from the runway.

So far the pieces I was lurking have been produced.

I went through the buying book and only a small % is being produced.
Somehow I thought the MJ era had higher % being produced. (Luckily I still have some.)
And I miss the old Balenciaga trunk shows.

 

[PDFSD]

I went through the buying book and only a small % is being produced.
Somehow I thought the MJ era had higher % being produced. (Luckily I still have some.)
And I miss the old Balenciaga trunk shows.

thanks to Nicolas they have a much bigger RTW business with carry over styles and wide category range (that was also part of the plan for LV to grow in and be a valid brand with RTW / progressive fashion added ) even if the brand got bigger and more bags online you see allot RTW as well per drop.

 

[tricotineacetat]

I'll share a sad story of mine...
I loved his latest LV runway show so I ordered a dress from it. My boutique located my dress from a different location so I paid for it.
Fast forward, the dress never arrived. My suspicion is that my dress, fully paid for, was snatched by someone else in that boutique.
They gave me a new ETA which is in the winter. So I cancelled the order.
It just occurred to me that Nicholas is not at LV to sell RTW or fashion. He is there to sell bags and the LV logo.
As someone who used to pre-order his runway pieces in the 2006-2008 era (we paid 50% at trunk show to ensure our pieces and paid the rest upon arrival), I'm sadden by this experience.
What a waste of talent. He could have been at the helm of his own house and created extraordinary fashion, but he is now designing to sell the LV brand.

I hate hearing stories like this, especially when the runway-to-store translation ends up being so heavily edited to the point that the commercial collection consists to a large part of basic dress shapes using fabrics or details from the runway. Galliano at Dior used to be the worst at that - The products on E-Luxury or Neiman Marcus' e-commerce were the absolute worst, most tacky newly-rich euro trash clothes imaginable (now having a revival with Gen-Z as part of the Y2K fashion trend).

Perhaps there are worse examples than Nicolas these days, the few times I wanted a piece from one of Hedi‘s Celine runway shows, it turned out those were the styles that never made it into production. It‘s highly frustrating when there is no believe at all in more adventurous fashion and all that‘s being pushed is generic merchandise!

 

[tricotineacetat]

I went through the buying book and only a small % is being produced.
Somehow I thought the MJ era had higher % being produced. (Luckily I still have some.)
And I miss the old Balenciaga trunk shows.

I remember with fondness how we all closely followed your process in ordering a blazer from Nicolas' 'Baroque Rockstar' SS'06 collection, Caffeine - What a joy it would be to have you as a customer, you always chose the nicest pieces ❤️

 

[Caffeine]

I remember with fondness how we all closely followed your process in ordering a blazer from Nicolas' 'Baroque Rockstar' SS'06 collection, Caffeine - What a joy it would be to have you as a customer, you always chose the nicest pieces ❤️

Thank you! Hard to think that it was 18 years ago
And guess what, after I got my one of a kind blazer in navy (they didn't produce for stores), a grey one popped up on Ebay. The seller was in Boston, so I traveled from NYC to see it in person and bought it. But on my return trip, a blizzard hit, so I was stuck in Boston for a night. This is how much I loved that collection. And I still have all the pieces