PARIS (AP) — Just days after an unexploded World War II bomb near Paris’ Gare du Nord briefly stole headlines, a different kind of spectacle unfolded across the street: Louis Vuitton’s fashion show extravaganza Monday evening.
The only explosions here at Paris Fashion Week were in fabric, form and a frenetic imagination. When designer Nicolas Ghesquière emerged for his bow, the audience’s adulation reached a fever pitch, so much so that French first lady Brigitte Macron, in a rarely seen display of exuberance, leapt to her feet to plant a kiss on him.
A station steeped in mystery
The setting, according to Louis Vuitton, was “L’Étoile du Nord,” described in the program notes as “a hidden station where past and future travelers converge, evoking the golden age of railway adventure,” a fictional secret station preserving the thrill of 19th-century rail travel, a time when the house first flourished alongside the rise of the Orient Express. Travel, anticipation, adventure—the very DNA of Vuitton.
From their front-row perch, Emma Stone, Jennifer Connelly, Ana de Armas, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lisa, Jaden Smith, Ava DuVernay, and Sophie Turner watched intently as projected shadowy figures drifted across the upper windows, as if ghostly travelers from another era. It was a fitting nod to Vuitton’s own origins at the dawn of the Orient Express and haute couture, when posh women needed to travel with innumerable cases to house their extensive mobile wardrobes. On the runway below, Ghesquière spun a narrative of train stations both real and imagined, styling passengers for journeys unknown.
There were detectives in trench coats, campers in bulky New Wave sweaters, and party girls rushing for the last train in ruched velvet. The designer has long been a master of cinematic dressing, pulling from a rolodex of filmic inspirations—classic whodunnits, fantasies and comedies. Elsewhere, a voluminous, cascading layered tulle skirt in deep fuchsia channeled Ghesquière’s penchant for fusing styles of different centuries, juxtaposed with a contemporary architectural knit top and futuristic slicked-back hair.
When the tracks got bumpy
But while the story was rich, the styling was, at times, derailed. One look in particular — a fisherman’s hat hybrid so oversized it nearly blinded the model, paired with an enveloping scarf, amorphous dress, and a horizontal belt buckle haphazardly above the bust — caused even seasoned fashion insiders to raise an eyebrow.
Some ensembles were thrilling; others felt like passengers on the wrong train. While fluid, translucent trenches and cleverly constructed jumpsuits stood out, other pieces veered toward the overworked. Layered-on haste rather than artful dishevelment.
Fashion on a synthesized beat
A standout capsule with electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk fused Vuitton’s travel heritage with the band’s vision of movement and modernity. ‘Trans-Europe Express’ appeared on pinstriped jumpsuits and accessories, reinforcing the rhythm of the journey. Fittingly, Vuitton revived its 1988 ceramic-bezel watch, a nod to precision in both travel and design.
As the last model exited the train station set, a question loomed in the air: Has Ghesquière himself run out of steam? Perhaps not yet but this season the journey, while evocative, didn’t always have a clear final destination.