PARIS (AP) — Singer Rosalía stunned guests at Louis Vuitton’s digital-age-themed menswear show in Paris on Thursday in a vintage 1980s yellow sedan A surprise appearance was made in dark shades and a hooded jacket.
The boundary-breaking Spanish star delivers a rousing vocal performance that delves into scenes from childhood films co-created by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry.
During her performance, the Grammy winner weaved through awe-inspiring celebrities including J-Balvin, Usher, Kit Harington, J-Hope, Tahar Rahim and Lucien Laviscount, who all applauded for the spectacle.
Here are some highlights from Thursday’s Autumn/Winter 2023-24 presentation:
Vuitton goes to millennials
Following the death of Virgil Abloh in 2021, the Louis Vuitton menswear atelier took over the creative helm of the brand. Yet Thursday’s set—the theme of a reconstruction of an old childhood home in the Louvre’s oldest courtyard—continues Abloh’s sophisticated style that has defined his Vuitton tenure from 2018 to 2021.
This season, the young studio team and guest designer Colm Dillane channeled growth “as first-generation members growing up hyper-connected.” As such, references to the digital age abound in the creative and cut-heavy presentation – which is more successful when it’s kept simple.
Patterns are reminiscent of encrypted computer codes, while handwritten school notes – considered obsolete in today’s world – are upcycled to produce a surreal white suit and top hat look constructed entirely of note paper.
The collection sometimes felt reliant on gimmicks, like pixelated apples on an otherwise beautiful round-shouldered wool coat.
The best looks are minimalist, like a light gray blazer with big childlike buttons and a wonderfully tapered V, thanks to smart construction and interlocking layers of fabric.
ISSEY MIYAKE becomes complicated and bright
A writhing dance troupe performed on the runway, moving organically against a backdrop of optical stripe lighting.
It’s not just a spectacle, it also introduces this season’s theme of geometry—how simple shapes fold into more complex ones—which the Japanese fashion house explores in several different parts and throughout Using its signature technical pleating technique.
The Homme Plisse Issey Miyake collection kicks off with a beautiful, soft new outerwear silhouette – in dazzling colours – with ridged shoulder gathers and rolled tubular sleeves. The lines in the grooves of the pleats give the impression of sophistication, even if the silhouette itself looks minimal.
Elsewhere, the idea of simplicity, rather than the sum of its parts, is subtly developed in a style known as “edge coating”. Amorphous pleated garments resemble a dark jellyfish and are designed with triangular fabric to create a beautiful three-dimensional shape.
Luxor by Rick Owens
Rick Owens said the collection was “about simplified architectural shapes” — adding, with his usual aplomb, that it had “a nasty, 70s air of pseudo-mysticism.”
It’s a good description of the creative frenzy that saw the acclaimed American designer travel to the ancient world, specifically the pre-pharaonic stronghold of the modern Egyptian city of Luxor, for inspiration.
The first looked like a cross between a pharaonic high priest and a 1970s rave rock star, with black gothic capes caressing provocatively bare torsos.
But this is a performance by Owens, a man who never limits himself to one subject.
Cue the encyclopedic contradiction.
A flick of Victorian skirt dazzles an austere high-waisted silhouette, while bronze cuffs and chokers add a touch of chic to this dark ’50s-inspired collection. And the striking alien-like spiked shoulders, which are now an Owens staple.
Details make the difference, not least the eco-conscious production methods, with the collection’s blacks coming from bamboo charcoal used as a dye, and green hues made using olive waste.
