PARIS (AP) — Screaming followers jammed the gates earlier than the Louvre pyramid, blocking entrances and snarling site visitors. They weren’t there for the Mona Lisa. They got here for Louis Vuitton — and for the entrance row.
Emma Stone sat with Zendaya, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, Ana de Armas and Sophie Turner, a casting flex that claims as a lot about Paris Style Week at the moment as any silhouette. The runway is now not the one stage; the entrance row is the second present, shaping the model’s message in actual time.
Inside gilded salons, with fall gentle pouring by means of Seventeenth-century home windows as soon as utilized by Anne of Austria, Nicolas Ghesquière staged one other leap by means of time. His Spring–Summer time 2026 assortment fused previous and current, with corseted waists, Juliette sleeves, tubular arms, large silk turbans. Feathered collars mimicked fur, whereas dishevelled, sultan-style trousers added an Japanese beat. A striped, ruffled coat winked like Pierrot as a bejeweled robe flashed again on the murals.
“The collection is a celebration of intimacy and the boundless freedom of the private sphere,” Ghesquière mentioned — “an exploration of archetypes of genre” and the “ultimate luxury of dressing for oneself.” The set, styled as a recent house contained in the Louvre, pushed the thought of personal class into public spectacle, whereas Cate Blanchett’s studying of David Byrne lyrics stored the temper reflective.
Ghesquière’s signatures have been clear. He blends eras with ease — Renaissance echoes snapped into trendy perspective. Construction felt gentle: corsetry that moved, tailoring that floated. The apartment-in-a-museum additionally nodded to journey — Vuitton’s core DNA — and to the designer’s behavior of crossing centuries. Surfaces have been couture-level with feathers, crystals and wealthy washes that blurred costume and ready-to-wear.
However acquainted critiques surfaced. The storytelling dazzles in scenes fairly than as one arc: Pierrot kinds, Ottoman trousers and silk turbans landed like vivid chapters, not all the time a single ebook. And regardless of discuss of intimacy, little felt on a regular basis. With Ghesquière, idea and embellishment usually outrun repeatable wardrobe.
On this sunny Paris day, the Louvre wasn’t about one masterpiece on a wall. It was a shifting one — Vuitton at full energy, arguing that trend will be each spectacle and a “manifesto of individuality.”
