Louis Vuitton Goes Big And Home To Its Brand DNA For Spring 2023

The ‘Supersize Me’ concept isn’t necessarily conducive to high fashion (though gluttony parallels can always be made.) At his Spring 2023 runway show for Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière deftly demonstrated that in his talented hands, enlarging the iconic house ‘ingredients”—the Monogram pattern, the classic trunk belts, and more—could be cool and on the right side of cartoonish.

So confident was the designer that he could blow up patterns, zippers, buckles, locks, and hardware, among other things, and succeed in making them chic; his soundtrack pumped a house music track by Wamdue, “King of My Castle.” His models walked a circular runway that evoked a traditional carrousel or Merry-Go-Round, assuming it was in 2122. According to the show’s press release, it was an installation of a pulsating ‘monster-flower’ by the artist Phillipe Parreno.

The show opened with decidedly future fantasy concepts that could imagine a shirred piping detail blown up to resemble tubes about the size of flexible HVAC tubes that served as shoulders on a white cropped top worn with a matching miniskirt with the tubing jutting off the hips, each bearing a black zipper with a gigantic pull. A black version followed that bore a resemblance to a life vest of the most fabulous proportion. In another, a tube encircled the neckline on a pleated and tiered dress with the help of strings. These gathered the garment into shape. In this futurist imagining, who knows when you might have to let loose your dress pulls to create an impromptu parachute?

The designer next played with the zipper and belts as a print on leather looks; each was unique with nothing on repeat. Leather dressing was also delivered in a series of patchwork styles (perhaps a bit of luxury upcycling chez Vuitton?) with massive black bows, a spliced zebra print dress and another trimmed with a 12-inch-thick belt, unbuckled and swaggering proved a leather frock could also be elegant. The outerwear especially lent itself to humongous brass or covered leather buttons (or were those the trunk corners?) were prominent on outerwear.

However practical it sounds, show notes emphasized the designer was punctuating femininity. At least exploring it in new scales. With the exception of big, thick sole boots and some supersized clutch bags about the size of a bed pillow, the one thing that didn’t get massive were the handbags which were quite petite in comparison.

The brand has had considerable success of late on the Red Carpet, and evidently, there is more to come. X-Large ribbon details held structured pinafore-style dresses, a mélange of sequin embroidery with oversized whipstitching details, and a group of frilly, embellished, and quilted styles are likely already planned for one starlet or another. There were plenty at the show to get first dibs.

Vuitton again took the prize for the highest Hollywood front row star wattage with the buzzy Blonde actress Ana de Armas, Janet Jackson, Sophie Turner, Joe Jonas, Alicia Vikander, Cynthia Ervio, Jennifer Connelly, Deepika Padukone, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, and Ruth Negga among many others. They even boasted royalty as HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco and HRH Princess Olympia of Greece attended the show.

Opposite guests on the interior of the runway were large circular mirrors that began to turn to reflect the guests during the finale to the attendee’s bemusement. Was it a way to turn the attention on the audience for a bit of self-reflection? The idea that fashion must be a significant reflection of culture and society is a big topic lately, for better or worse. No doubt, the clothes we wear are often a result of societal shifts.

They are also works of craft, beauty, and dreams. For this outing, this reporter is inclined to say Ghesquière rather than reflect on today’s tumultuous zeitgeist simply delivered fashion the nth degree.