Indefinable Charm of French Style at the Louis Vuitton Show

In the galleries of the Musée d'Orsay, Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Nicolas Ghesquière presented his vision of French allure. A question of attitude.

A day of frenzy on the Left Bank in Paris. In front of the Musée d'Orsay, the crowd of the great days strides in the cold hoping to see the celebrities expected at the Louis Vuitton show. Sedans with smoked windows follow one another. With each new arrival, the shrill screams of the fans indicate the popularity of the stars. Actresses Ana de Armas, Léa Seydoux, Sophie Turner, Noémie Merlant, Alicia Vikander win the vote in a joyful hubbub. Emma Stone arrives through a back door. The thirty minutes of delay are already largely reached. The parade must imperatively begin.

However, a star is still missing. She finally arrives: Zendaya is there, it's the riot. She goes ultra-sexy in a mini short and tiger print blazer, open on a black bra, squared brushing and devastating smile. The icon of a whole generation, the cult heroine of Euphoria and Dune, greets the crowd and jogged to her place on the front row, alongside Pharrell Williams, the new artistic director of Louis Vuitton men's fashion, under the crystal chandeliers of the museum's Napoleon III panelled salons. The show begins.

A vision of the French Touch

On the eve of the general strike, a free and democratic expression that the French have mastered so well, it's to an entirely different national specificity that Nicolas Ghesquière is interested: French style. "What is French style?" the artistic director pertinently asks. His entire Fall-Winter 2023-24 collection pays both a heartfelt tribute to this "French Touch that never ceases to captivate" - the whole world -, while delivering his own vision. What he calls "an enigma".

Mixing eras

The indefinable charm of a French look can be found in these reinvented classic suits or these wise dresses with banker stripes: "the audacious tradition", Nicolas Ghesquière emphasizes. It's all a question of attitude, a way of mixing eras, cultures, and clothes of course. The French style is blatant on these girls walking around in sensual strapless dresses worn over large casual knit sweaters that break up the silhouette. They create a paradox, suggest a mystery. This style shines through on silhouettes in parkas with oversized volumes that have been completely rethought, as if inflated with a sovereign energy, and on remarkably elaborate dresses. It is further illustrated in the confident look of a woman walking nonchalantly, hands in pockets, in wide pants worn with a man's vest. "It's sophistication in a dilettante gesture", summarizes the designer.

The essential and the exceptional

This season, fashion designers are going straight to the essential. There is surely a need, a necessity in the air. This urgency has not escaped Nicolas Ghesquière, who captures the spirit of the times like no one else. His collection, refined, classic in its own way - never cut off from visions of the future - is a testament to this. It is also very couture, emphasizing the unique know-how of the workshops of French fashion houses like Louis Vuitton. A certain idea of elegance to be linked with the inestimable French exception.