Nicolas Ghesquière - Designer, Creative Director of Louis Vuitton

[Alquimista]

Some of these looks really fall into the „very unflattering / rather contrived“ category to me - Particularly the long grey 80ies jacket with matching hat and ankle boots look. Yikes.

That's one look. I'm saying that the majority of his clothes look better now. The red carpet dresses look better.

I simply find preposterous any theory of ghost design or radical shift. His late work for Balenciaga was full on sci fi. And even at LV, he does different styles, the latest collection was more classic than sci fi but the shapes are still difficult. He's in a big brand doing daring clothes for the woman who cares. What I feel is that he should open up a bit, refine more, maybe make the pre collections a refined version of the rtw. But overral I like the "not for everybody" atitude of his work because he was always this way. The women who likes it will follow his proposition.

 

[Lola701]

Hedi DH has nothing to do with SLP or Celine. Hedi hasn't done a skinny jean like DH in 20 years…

We didn’t watched the same collections then. Hedi has never abandoned his skinny silhouette even though he did more than that.
Much like at Dior Homme, he didn’t do just Skinny. Much like at YSL (first tenure), he didn’t do just skinny pants.

And the Hedi silhouette is not just pants. It’s also about the way he cut his blazers. Shorter than usual, with arm holes very high and things like that or skinny lapels.

We refer to Hedi’s work as a skinny silhouette because it’s precisely that. He reframed the silhouette in menswear, even when he did big shoulders.

But the rock sensibility in his work is something that came over time. His inclinaison to vintage too. Hedi’s work looks less « modern » than what he did in the late 90’s and early 00’s. It was intentionally modern. Now it has become timeless because he added touches of vintage and his work has more and more had a very « wardrobe » orientation.

But when someone looks at the work of Hedi, it’s clear that he is past experimenting. The same thing with Armani and others.

 

[Nimsay]

I mean they just dropped the new Zenadaya ad and she’s not wearing any NG. Across all the ads she is not wearing NG…. Just a pencil skirt you can hardly see.

Thats highly problematic and indicates the styling people decided a scarf top would be better than ANY NG. Thats not even clothing! The biggest launch of LV in 2020s and they exclude NG from it totally...I distinctly remember the OG Murakami had Marc’s RTW in all the ads.

LV is making moves without Nicolas bc his clothes no longer serve their needs. Two times in a short period they had to make plans excluding him. Nicolas needs to get over his ideologies and make a pretty dress.

I mean in all my years in corporate - when a company starts doing things around you. It means they’re gonna get rid of you soon. I would already be looking for a job if my company made two moves excluding me where I should be centered.

 

[LadyJunon]

I mean they just dropped the new Zenadaya ad and she’s not wearing any NG. Across all the ads she is not wearing NG…. Just a pencil skirt you can hardly see.

Thats highly problematic and indicates the styling people decided a scarf top would be better than ANY NG. Thats not even clothing! The biggest launch of LV in 2020s and they exclude NG from it totally...I distinctly remember the OG Murakami had Marc’s RTW in all the ads.

LV is making moves without Nicolas bc his clothes no longer serve their needs. Two times in a short period they had to make plans excluding him. Nicolas needs to get over his ideologies and make a pretty dress.

I mean in all my years in corporate - when a company starts doing things around you. It means they’re gonna get rid of you soon. I would already be looking for a job if my company made two moves excluding me where I should be centered.

He signed a 5 year contract back in 2023. Chances are he's staying until 2028 (his last show probably being SS29).

 

[Lola701]

I mean they just dropped the new Zenadaya ad and she’s not wearing any NG. Across all the ads she is not wearing NG…. Just a pencil skirt you can hardly see.

Thats highly problematic and indicates the styling people decided a scarf top would be better than ANY NG. Thats not even clothing! The biggest launch of LV in 2020s and they exclude NG from it totally...I distinctly remember the OG Murakami had Marc’s RTW in all the ads.

LV is making moves without Nicolas bc his clothes no longer serve their needs. Two times in a short period they had to make plans excluding him. Nicolas needs to get over his ideologies and make a pretty dress.

I mean in all my years in corporate - when a company starts doing things around you. It means they’re gonna get rid of you soon. I would already be looking for a job if my company made two moves excluding me where I should be centered.

NG is there to stay. Everybody is happy with him at LVMH and as Delphine power’s grows, it will continue that way.

Louis Vuitton has always had 2 sides: Louis Vuitton as the big company and it entity and it has been the case since the MJ era.

Marc Jacobs entering Louis Vuitton in 1997 is different from NG entering Louis Vuitton in 2013. The company was organized differently but essentially some things haven’t changed.

The Art of Travel campaigns never involved MJ for example.

In reality, to have grasp of NG’s impact at Louis Vuitton, you needs to know what was the brand before and how it changed overtime. Looking at the runway, the extreme styling doesn’t give a reality to what is happening at the stores and things like that.

Of course NG is not involved directly as the decision was made by Pietro Beccari (to boost sales at the end of the year) as NG discontinued the line a decade ago. But today, apart from the Neverfull and the Capucines, all the best sellers at Louis Vuitton are runway pieces that became staples.

If there are two designers that have nothing to worry at LVMH, it is NG and JWA.

 

[Creative]

I wish he could go somewhere else, smaller,
Less cheap, and be cool again… but it’s never gonna happen. Where do you go after LV.

 

[Lola701]

I wish he could go somewhere else, smaller,
Less cheap, and be cool again… but it’s never gonna happen. Where do you go after LV.

Either a Couture house or something small or something different.
In the talk with Marina Fois, he talked about interior design and costumes for movies.

Don’t you think that what Phoebe is doing may inspire him?

But Nicolas has an ego and is very much aware of his impact and contribution to fashion. He likes literally still to this day a lot of his work at Balenciaga on people’s IG.

I think he will want to work on his legacy. He has build his own archives, I can’t just imagine him having them just for the sake of it.

Nevertheless, I can’t just imagine him create a brand named Nicolas Ghesquiere.

 

[Creative]

Either a Couture house or something small or something different.
In the talk with Marina Fois, he talked about interior design and costumes for movies.

Don’t you think that what Phoebe is doing may inspire him?

But Nicolas has an ego and is very much aware of his impact and contribution to fashion. He likes literally still to this day a lot of his work at Balenciaga on people’s IG.

I think he will want to work on his legacy. He has build his own archives, I can’t just imagine him having them just for the sake of it.

Nevertheless, I can’t just imagine him create a brand named Nicolas Ghesquiere.

I would love to see him in a couture house and work with archives… but I think it is never going to happen.

I think it could be cool for him to launch his brand, but at the same time I feel those things never really work? I don’t know. I love Tom Ford but I never enjoyed his fashion for his own label, same for my dear Olivier or even my beloved Phoebe… but I would love to see him a little bit more contrived, creating easier and maybe less pretentious pieces. I think he is in an “over-designe” phase.

 

[mikel]

I mean they just dropped the new Zenadaya ad and she’s not wearing any NG. Across all the ads she is not wearing NG…. Just a pencil skirt you can hardly see.

Thats highly problematic and indicates the styling people decided a scarf top would be better than ANY NG. Thats not even clothing! The biggest launch of LV in 2020s and they exclude NG from it totally...I distinctly remember the OG Murakami had Marc’s RTW in all the ads.

But the OG Murakami was part of Marc’s RTW collection. So they were obviously featured together in the main advertising campaign because the focus was on both parts of that collection. The current Murakami line isn’t part of the RTW collection. So it’s not a given that the RTW is featured in the campaign. The focus is on the bags. So if anything it makes sense that the clothes play second fiddle to the bags. And it makes sense they didn’t go for a show stopping Nicolas piece from RTW.

 

[Avonlea]

What I would love to happen is see him work with a different stylist, someone who is the polar opposite of MAS.

 

[Lola701]

I would love to see him in a couture house and work with archives… but I think it is never going to happen.

I think it could be cool for him to launch his brand, but at the same time I feel those things never really work? I don’t know. I love Tom Ford but I never enjoyed his fashion for his own label, same for my dear Olivier or even my beloved Phoebe… but I would love to see him a little bit more contrived, creating easier and maybe less pretentious pieces. I think he is in an “over-designe” phase.

The problem with designers launching their own brands is more about the expectations of the public than what the designer wants.

Tom Ford didn’t launched Tom Ford to replicate his Gucci but people expected him to do Gucci/YSL again.

Phoebe I’m still a bit perplexed on what people expected….For her to completely re-invent herself?

I think that when you are at that stage, maybe creating your own brand should be your little vanity project.

Isn’t it ironic that he is probably happy creating what he is creating today, while making billions for the biggest brand of that part of the industry and some wants him to be more contrived in his creativity to create a kind of fashion we would more appreciate?

 

[Creative]

The problem with designers launching their own brands is more about the expectations of the public than what the designer wants.

Tom Ford didn’t launched Tom Ford to replicate his Gucci but people expected him to do Gucci/YSL again.

Phoebe I’m still a bit perplexed on what people expected….For her to completely re-invent herself?

I think that when you are at that stage, maybe creating your own brand should be your little vanity project.

Isn’t it ironic that he is probably happy creating what he is creating today, while making billions for the biggest brand of that part of the industry and some wants him to be more contrived in his creativity to create a kind of fashion we would more appreciate?

I wouldn't like designers to replicate their biggest successes, but I would expect the same design level, sophistication and chicness they had before. Tom Ford at his own brand, as much as I adore him, was a total joke imo. As a fashion project I mean. Maybe the individual pieces were great, I don't know.

For Olivier it was a little bit too... normal. Some beautiful pieces and details, but felt pretty dark and lackluster.

Phoebe is amazing, but as much as she reinvented herself when she went to Céline, I'd love to see her style evolving a little bit. I always say Phoebe is the best and the worst that has happened to fashion in the last decade. She gave us amazing collections, yet she has been so influential that everyone is still copying her. Her "wake" is never-ending and I am completely tired of that undoneness, the rawness, the cleanliness... Even Peter Muller at Alaïa is copying her. I think it's so done that she should evolve a little bit. There's no fashion hype about his brand, I don't know. It might be good as a commercial offering, but as a fashion offering it is not interesting to me anymore.

For Ghesquière, I think he might be "too" happy to be a good designer. And I am happy for him but not happy for his collections. I felt that way since he started dating Pelayo. As a designer, you are better when you are a little bit more introverted, less into social-media and stuff. Once you fly private, have all the luxuries in the world, start dating influencers, spending much time on social media... I feel fashion is not your priority anymore and it moves to a second or third priority.

Right now I would even say he is not involved... at all. His collections seem designed by the studio thinking of what Ghesquière would do, but without the touch of Ghesquière. I don't even find them creative, I find them extravagant and quite out of place and out of touch. Like exaggerating for the sake of it. A little bit too... clowny.

Anyways, I do feel when you get older it's more difficult to be creative. You don't have the same energy. When you are young you can only think about fashion, but then the priorities evolve and you can tell that in the collections.

 

[reese06]

Right now I would even say he is not involved... at all. His collections seem designed by the studio thinking of what Ghesquière would do, but without the touch of Ghesquière. I don't even find them creative, I find them extravagant and quite out of place and out of touch. Like exaggerating for the sake of it. A little bit too... clowny.

Which is why I don’t think he cares to go anywhere else or start his own brand.

LV gives him the freedom to be extravagant and out of touch. Clowny and the brand is so big and clearly had the right strategy where people think “oh that’s just fashion” while thinking it’s ugly but still craving an SLG, bag or commercial rtw piece.
I think your take on him not being involved is interesting and I’ve never thought of it. But going somewhere else would not give him the same freedom of budget and ability to be absent if that’s true I don’t think.