How Louis Vuitton’s Barcelona cruise show paid homage to Spain: held at Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell, the new collection features Matador-inspired hats, lace dresses and ‘monster boots’
Soon after debuting his first collection for Louis Vuitton as womenswear artistic director more than 10 years ago, designer Nicolas Ghesquière staged the maison’s first-ever cruise show in the Principality of Monaco, on the French Riviera.
Since then, Ghesquière has outdone himself year after year with cruise shows in jaw-dropping locations such as the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro, designed by celebrated Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer; the Bob and Dolores Hope Estate in Palm Springs, designed by modernist architect John Lautner; and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Diego.
If you’re sensing a theme here, you’re not wrong: Ghesquière is a design buff and loves nothing more than wowing his fans with his directional shows and their arresting backdrops.
For the unveiling of the cruise 2025 range, Ghesquière decamped to Barcelona, the Spanish city that this summer will host the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, the regatta that takes place in Barcelona’s Port Vell and along the city’s beaches.
Staying true to his love of architectural landmarks that complement – but never overshadow – his designs, Ghesquière showed the collection in Park Güell, designed by perhaps Barcelona’s most famous citizen: architect Antoni Gaudí. Considered the father of Catalan Modernism, Gaudí is also the brains behind the city’s most famous landmark, the still unfinished Sagrada Familia church, which draws hordes of tourists every year.
With its colourful mosaics, whimsical sculptures and fairy tale-like landscape that all seamlessly blend with the surrounding nature, Park Güell, which was completed in 1914 and is a Unesco World Heritage site, provided a great counterpoint to the monochrome hues and streamlined shapes of the clothes.
While the show was meant as a homage to “the flourishing culture of Spain”, it was far from a literal nod. The collection was pure Vuitton and pure “Nicolas”, as fans of his work would put it.
Ghesquière is not a designer to compromise his vision to suit a theme or a source of inspiration. He simply redefines his codes season after season through different lenses – in this instance, Spain’s “opulent purity” and “passionate character”.
Sharp silhouettes, historical references juxtaposed with futuristic elements, and androgynous undertones – all Ghesquière’s signatures – anchored the show, ensuring that those few touches of Spanish flair never felt gimmicky or costume-y.
Ruffles and polka dots recalled flamenco dresses, while a black embroidered matador jacket, a series of tailored looks styled with matador-inspired hats, and a genius use of lace on a long-sleeved dress that was sexy and chic, were clear yet subtle nods to Spanish heritage.
Accessories ranged from Ghesquière’s beloved pointy boots in shiny patent leather to wraparound sunglasses and heavily fringed footwear that looked like brooms sweeping the runway.
Those shoes caught the attention of award-winning director Ava DuVernay, who attended the shows along with other celebrities such as Jennifer Connelly, Sophie Turner and Jaden Smith. “I had high hopes that this would be what they wanted after the last cruise show last year in Italy that was rained out,” said DuVernay during a quick post-show chat.
“This was magnificent. The surroundings against the garments created a very magical, surreal feeling – it was extraordinary,” she enthused. “I was particularly taken by the shoes; I thought that those were very special, and then the silhouettes of the jackets with the broad shoulders and the tapered waist, which he’s been doing season after season, and the fabrics and the whimsical nature.”
She singled out a grey outfit with pleats in the back as a highlight. Other winning looks, in addition to a show-stopping lace dress in black and white, included a long-sleeved white chiffon dress paired with those fringed “monster boots” and a number of ruffled balloon skirts that flounced around the body, which have become a recurring style in Ghesquière’s repertoire.
The show notes referred to Park Güell as “a utopia” and to Gaudí as “a land to himself” within the city of Barcelona.
Looking at Ghesquière’s work for Louis Vuitton over the last decade, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to compare his approach to that of Gaudí’s: the same uncompromising vision of an iconoclast whose creative output constantly evolves and always sets the tone for what’s to come.
