L OUIS V UI T TON’S RI O CARNIVAL
The French luxury house took their Cruise collection show to Brazil. Sasha Slater reports from the fashion front line in Rio
‘Nature is explosive here. It’s a beautiful chaos’
Rio de Janeiro is in the eye of a storm, beset by a collapsing government, economic turmoil and the Zika-virus-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito. On top of that, it has an Olympic Games to deliver in 68 days. The metro system isn’t finished, let alone the beach volleyball stadium, which is currently a mass of scaffolding in the sand.
Into this maelstrom on Saturday night came Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of womenswear at Louis Vuitton, to showcase his cruise collection for the French luxury behemoth. At first glance, his choice of the Brazilian city seems as quixotic as Karl Lagerfeld’s decision to stage a Chanel cruise show in Cuba three weeks ago. It’s certainly as much of a fashion “first”, since there’s never before been a major international catwalk show in Rio. But while the Cubans have been cut off from the world in fashion terms for 60 years, Brazilians have kept up with the rest of us. Not only do they have genuine card-carrying supermodels – Gisele Bündchen, Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima – they are also avid consumers of Vuitton’s handbags, luggage and accessories. And now, surely, of its fashion, too.
Ghesquière loves architecture, and his chosen venue was certainly spectacular. The Museu de Arte Contem-porânea de Niterói, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and built in the Nineties, looks like a white flying saucer that has touched down on the tip of a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea an hour from the centre of Rio. In front of the building, a curving spool of crimson concrete spirals to the ground, creating the most dramatic runway any model could wish for.
Louis Vuitton was founded in 1854 in order to help the wealthy travel in comfort and style, and Ghesquière has been true to the brief. There was a sport and an athleticism to the clothes, whether white-stretch, multi-pocketed trousers, or performance-fabric, zip-fastened minidresses, which indicated that, whoever the Vuitton woman is, she’ll be going places this autumn. She’ll also be striding out in comfort, since the shoes and boots were resolutely forgiving neoprene – and were the thong-toed lace-up boots inspired by flip-flops? There were more nods to Brazil in the footballer print inspired by local artist Aldemir Martins’s paintings of Pelé that adorned some tank tops. Meanwhile, the ruffles, hot blues and reds, and cutaway sections on many of the mini-dresses evoked a spirit of carnival. As did the bags – some of which were styled to look like an Eighties boombox, while others delighted with their fringing, graffiti decoration and vibrant pinks, yellows and scarlets. “I’m a Frenchman who’s come to present a French luxury collection, but it’s also tropical and exotic,” said Ghesquière. “Nature is explosive here, and at the same time you have these wonderful buildings. It’s a beautiful chaos.” Watching this joyous marriage of Vuitton and Rio was a handpicked group of celebrities, including actors Catherine Deneuve, Alicia Vikander, Jaden (son of Will) Smith, and model Adriana Lima. Beautiful chaos indeed.