Water became an unexpected theme of Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2024 show, not just because of the show’s location on the privately-owned island Isola Bella on Lake Maggiore that belonged to Italy’s Borromeo family for five centuries, but because of the torrential downpour that suddenly forced the show indoors. This was supposed to be a parade of sci-fi mermaids through the island’s majestic gardens, which was where scenes in Star Wars were filmed (a lodestar reference for the house’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière) and widely considered to be some of the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world.
The show surprisingly marked the first of Louis Vuitton’s voyages to Italy, a place where it has much of its production, and that has just as much fashion history as France. What was meant to be an al fresco spectacle at sunset hour was instead moved indoors at the final hour. The interiors of the island’s palazzo, however, weren’t too shabby, and perhaps were in keeping with the theme of amphibious mermaids coming to shore, ready to trade in their fishtails for scuba leggings and chunky LV sneakers. Even mermaids — and more-money-than-God megabrands — must be subject to the unpredictable whims of the clouds.
It’s a timely idea: this summer, the buzzed-about remake of The Little Mermaid is finally hitting the silver screen. Nicolas Ghesquière, however, offered a distinctly sci-fi counterpoint to that hackneyed fairytale. He is, after all, one of the most masterful storytellers of the fashion world, uninterested in basic rehashings, preferring instead to dream up hyper-new clothes that might already exist in any kind of way. Often, the end result is a kind of harmoniously hybridised mash-up of clashing, confusing, but brilliantly slow-burn ideas about clothing. Garments that juxtapose sportswear and formalwear, tech and romanticism, sci-fi and baroque, rigid structure and petal-soft romance. They defy any easy kind of categorisation, and can often feel like a radical antidote to the ultra-traditional archetypes of heritage houses or the merchandised basics considered ‘quiet luxury’. This collection, like all good Cruise collections, has a distinct storyline inspired by the location of the show.
“The mystery of lakes that one imagines might be populated by fantastical creatures — today, they’re here,” explained Nicolas in an interview. “It could be a post-modern wyvern, a legendary creature, a kind of freshwater mermaid that lives in rivers, ponds and lakes. Precious stones adorn her forehead. She seduces men by placing jewels on the shore and luring them into the depths. But this time, it’s she who ventures onto dry land to reconnect with the plant kingdom … A progression from aquatic to botanical.”
SUBSCRIBE TO I-D NEWSFLASH. A WEEKLY NEWSLETTER DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX ON FRIDAYS.
The collection’s official title was ‘Botanical Cruise’, a mash-up of underwater mythology and onland pragmatism. Sequined fish scales and courtly robes for settling into the marble-walled palazzo, retro sneakers and brushed-cashmere biking shorts for hiking up the cobblestone hills. The show opened with a much more contemporary idea of la vie aquatique: chic deep-sea divers in webbed-collared scuba jackets and leggings offering an unexpected twist on the typically Ghesquièrian sportswear mash-up (the designer famously pioneered luxe scuba neoprene during his time at Balenciaga during the Y2K years). These girls could be the lovechild of deep-sea divers and local nymphs with their tousled locks, long bare legs and mismatched wardrobe of water-stained prints, droplet-like paillette sequins dripping from nautical rope-fastened capes, scuba bralettes and leggings worn with baroque georgette trousers. Their leather jackets that look like galuchat and block-coloured neoprene bags resembling Nicolas’ cult, Logo-inspired accessories for Balenciaga would surely help them pass as fashion-literate girls on the streets of Paris.
The aquatic became botanic courtesy of the ornate feathered headdresses created by an atelier in Rome which makes costumes for Italian cinema and opera, which resembled otherworldly flowers and the white peacocks that graze the gardens of Isola Bella. Shirts come with tails at the back, Belle Époque-style florals and stained-glass motifs. Then, a finale of Italian apero-hour pastel gowns, which Nicolas described as “unreal flowers from this once-in-a-lifetime garden”, offered a dramatic crescendo of floral fancy. As far as fairytales go, it doesn’t get more fantastic than this vision of fashion.