Throwback: The Louis Vuitton Experience

My dear peeps, if any of you happen to follow me on Instagram you may have noticed that I am having a little Christmas vacation in the south of Spain at the moment, taking a little break from life in general. However, I did swear to myself that I would do a bit of blogging as I still have SO. MANY. PLANNED. POSTS. In many ways they won’t be relevant as such but these are topics I’m passionate about and truly deserve a post on my blog!

On the 5th of October I witnessed one of the most interesting fashion exhibitions of the year. It ended 13 days later, and I couldn’t help but regret that I did not go see it again. Yes, Louis Vuitton’s #LVseries3’s exhibition may have essentially been a gigantic ad campaign for its autumn/winter ’15 collection – but boy, what a beautiful ad indeed.

Coat, Topshop. Cardigan and shoes, Hobbs. Turtleneck, Blend She (sample bought at the end of the summer). Skirt, Silvian Heach. Bag with Tatty Devine keyring, Zara.

The layout of the exhibition was pretty impressive to begin with, so I couldn’t resist having an #ootd moment in this white-out tunnel.

There was a lot of imposing imagery which included a brief summary of Louis Vuitton’s history – let’s face it, being reminded of how one man started making bags and suitcases back in the 1800’s does make one see a brand in a whole new light.

One of the most glamorous rooms of the exhibition featured moving imagery of Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter ’15 collection – am I right to say that it is Nicolas Ghesquière’s first collection for the brand? I absolutely loved it – even though I always had a soft spot for Marc Jacob’s retro-inspired collections, these looks had a grown-up and thoroughly modern feel.

There was a lot of information about the design and making process of their bags, which naturally made us all want to posses a Vuitton. One of the best parts about the exhibition was the fact that they had a few of the brand’s very own French workers making prototype bags on the spot. There were a lot of ‘guides’ explaining many aspects of the brand and exhibition – this included them being able to ask these craftsmen and women question on behalf of the public (for those of us ignorant people who don’t speak French). Kudos to these workers making beautiful little box bags while having a bunch of people stare at them – my heart almost shattered into a million pieces when one of the guides said that these little prototypes were being made exclusively for the exhibition and would be destroyed once it was over. My God, I really hope that did not happen.

This exhibition was a little too easy on the eye – looking back I feel like I couldn’t choose just one thing I loved about it because I found it all so mesmerising, but the white room really made an impression on me. I loved the super chic white silhouettes that had an almost ghostly feel – more like classical Greek sculptures than mannequins, these ethereal models were brought to life by the amazing shots of colour and shine in the bags.

As you can imagine, this bag was my favourite ‘thing’ in the whole exhibition. Nude pink and in the shape of a box, I am devastated to know that I will never own this beautiful piece. Ever since visiting the exhibition I have kept my eyes open for a box bag on a friendly budget, but have not succeeded in finding anything that would even remotely replace the memory of this beauty.

How amazing is this shot of mustard?

The final hall of the exhibition was covered in a multitude of Vuitton campaign images – like a super chic reinterpretation of when we used to cover our bedrooms with magazine cut-outs as teenagers, it made for a pretty sexy and inspiring background.

A few people I spoke to did not like this exhibition. They found the lack of concise information and high-tech stuff boring and simply not enough. Visually obsessive people like me do not mind about these technicalities as such – but I don’t, ultimately, understand the purpose of this exhibition. It’s very different to, for example, an Alexander McQueen exhibition, because like I said from the start, it was essentially a big ad for Louis Vuitton’s autumn/winter ’15 exhibition. It was also a celebration, yes, a high-tech and luxurious look into the world of Vuitton, now quietly yet powerfully run by Ghesquière. Was it to show off? To lead us fashion-obsessed Londoners to believe that Vuitton is really loaded with dosh at the moment – so loaded that they can totally hold a free exhibition for four weeks just to promote the brand? Or was it simply to inspire desire, somehow such a powerful tool amongst the masses? Yes, a lot of us who went to that exhibition probably did leave wanting a Louis Vuitton bag, conveniently forgetting those not so fashionable brown logo-loud pieces and focusing on the future, the new. But is desire enough within the masses? For Vuitton, it probably is.

All pictures taken by my friend and I on October 5th, 2015 at LV Series 3 – Charing Cross, London.

xxx

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