Courtesy of Heart Evangelista
From Paris, Heart Evangelista reflects on Nicolas Ghesquière’s ten years at Louis Vuitton.
This season, Louis Vuitton came full circle. Its fall/winter 2024 collection was presented at the Cour Carée du Louvre, a site that has seen many of the maison’s shows, including the first one that Nicolas Ghesquière ever mounted as artistic director of women’s collections. For his tenth anniversary show, the designer translated a quiet optimism across his gleaming white runway, illuminated by the tall, modular structures that line it in every direction. Light bounced off of cabochon stones, metallic threads, and diaphanous paillettes, embellished on garments that felt at once familiar and fresh.
The retrospective approach wasn’t a celebratory gesture. Rather, it’s something present in each of his collections. “It’s all kind of connected in a way,” affirms Vogue Philippines November cover star Heart Evangelista, who was among the 4,000 or more guests present at his show. “There’s a good fluidity with all of the collections.”
What Ghesquière is building on as a signature as both a designer and artistic director of Louis Vuitton is more than any one particular technique or design code; it’s his ever-evolving philosophy that fashion can take cues from the past while looking to the future.
In the years since Ghesquière was appointed at the brand, Evangelista has always resonated with his pieces, which, for her, translate a “feeling of completeness and unity, a language only understood by people who love fashion, just like me.”
Below, find more of what Evangelista had to say about the show, as well as her lasting affinity with Ghesquière’s Louis Vuitton.
Can you take us into what it felt like being at the Cour Carrée du Louvre for this special collection for Louis Vuitton?
First and foremost, it was super cool to be able to be at one of the biggest shows, which was like 4,000 plus people for Nicolas’s ten-year anniversary at the Cour Carrée du Louvre. It was just such a grand set-up, and seeing all these amazing talents, influencers, and people celebrating the tenth year was really great.
What is your overall take on the show? What design motifs stuck out to you the most?
I love how it was really a great mix of different textures. [There were] a lot of cutouts, like feather-like cutouts, which was shown in the last two pieces, the cut-out dresses. I also love how they would incorporate the print of the trunks on the dresses, which was actually definitely an inspiration. They featured a lot of the Alma bags, the side trunk bags were also really cool.
I think my favorite looks would be the fur coats—but they weren’t really fur, I think they were made out of ostrich feathers if I’m not mistaken, but I love that. They also made them into two versions; one was like the long-sleeve, which is like a traditional coat, and the other one was like a vest-type. It was so, so nice. I love how they would mix kind of like a rugged look, but very elegant with a nice tutu skirt-type or like a cancan skirt, which was really nice. The movement on the runway was beautiful.
It was a mix of emotions, I feel, but it still kind of definitely represented some iconic pieces from Nicolas Ghesquière’s first year as a creative director, so it was really beautiful. It was like a reminder of his past and what to expect in the future.
Is there anything from the collection that you have your eye on for your own wardrobe? Do you have a favorite look?
I’m still digging a lot of the printed looks, but lately, I’ve been gravitating toward the quieter kind of luxury, and they show that a lot. They had a lot of like nice color palettes like a light blue, but I would probably gravitate towards the fur coats. I think they’re really nice. They were in a camel, taupe kind of color. I would definitely have a piece of that. It’s super easy to style with just denim, a T-shirt, or whatever. It’s my vibe.
From the countless seasons you’ve sat front row at his shows, what themes from the collection felt familiar for you versus new and unexpected?
Obviously, it was kind of inspired by the iconic trunks of Louis Vuitton. And then you had the Alma bags which I love; [Ghesquière] incorporated it with some textile prints on it, and it came in different leather with hardware. I love also the new shapes that were seen, like the bags that looked like make-up kits and hat bags were very, very cool.
I feel that when you say Louis Vuitton, [you think of] a lot of logos and all of that, but I love how it’s still like a mesh of the both—of two worlds—but still it was very timeless, classic pieces that aren’t dated. So I love that. I love that he created these pieces, and he continues to create pieces like that, you know. Like, even his GO-14 bag is very, very iconic, so I loved it all, actually. I loved it all.
What is your favorite thing about every Louis Vuitton show you’ve attended thus far?
There’s always, like, a connection. Like there’s not a drastic change [through the seasons], it’s all kind of connected in a way. There’s a good fluidity with all of the collections, which means to say, for me, as somebody who doesn’t just attend shows; I do love and I live with these clothes because, you know, [I have] a buildable wardrobe, which I feel like, as a consumer, is very important because you want to invest in pieces that you’ll be able to wear and not necessarily something that is just in trend and that’s dated. And I love how he also, in a sense, always adds a splice of something new—a new vibe. You know, it’s not really a trend—it’s really more of like an update, in a sense. So I like that, I like how it’s very fluid, and it’s all connected and yeah, very elegant, timeless, classic.
What was most memorable to you about the experience and why?
Well, it’s memorable because it’s [Ghesquière’s] tenth year. I’m very happy, honored, and grateful that I was able to witness this tenth-year anniversary of Nicolas because it’s just a momentous event for him. I know that he’s going to be with them for another five years, but you know this kind of celebration of his relationship with Louis Vuitton and a little bit of a preview to what he has to offer in the next five years. And again, [this is] probably one of the biggest shows he has thrown, so to be part of it, for me, that [is] most memorable.
