Louis Vuitton Cruise 2023 Collection
Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2023 show at Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute.
French fashion house Louis Vuitton unveiled its latest Cruise 2023 Women’s collection. Nicolas Ghesquière chose San Diego, “The Salk Institute for Biological Studies” in La Jolla, San Diego Country, California as the setting for the runway show. “I’d seen pictures of the Salk, it was on the cover of the Louis Vuitton magazine in 2019, and I was always curious to see it for real,” Ghesquière said.
The sun was crucial for the fashion show, playing “an active role in the evolution of this wardrobe, where changes in temperature set a stylist tempo.”
“The sun is the guest of honour in the Cruise 2023 collection,” said Louis Vuitton’s show notes.
Distinctive West Coast lighting created prisms in shimmering silhouettes, while a myriad of natural materials created the illusion of a metallic palette.
“I wanted the clothes to be like reflections, a point of contact between light and people” – Nicolas Ghesquière.
Architect Louis Khan placed the sun at the heart of the Salk Institute, a 1965 Brutalist building designed as a concrete monastery for enlightened souls. “I was curious about the architecture and environment. So I came down to San Diego a couple of years ago and I didn’t get a chance to see it, but I saw La Jolla and the beach and I enjoyed the atmosphere.” Nicolas said.
The collection was informed by the Californian landscape and featured desert and water sports-like cuts, which were paired with natural materials such as linen, silk, and tweed. Juxtaposing materials were blended to create futuristic yet archaic silhouettes.
The clothing — items that would have looked at home among the costumes in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune – included bomber jackets, metallic fabrics, and embellished garments shimmered against the concrete setting as models walked through the golden concrete and sunset.
Louis Vuitton’s star-studded front row attracted several actresses including Gemma Chan, Emma Roberts, Samara Weaving, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor, Renate Reinsve, Ana de Armas, Deepika Padukone (Louis Vuitton’s first Indian brand ambassador) and Léa Seydoux, who will soon be heading to Cannes, where she will star in two new films. Leslie Mann attended with daughters Maude and Iris Apatow. Ava DuVernay, model Miranda Kerr, LACMA boss Michael Govan and wife Katherine Ross, Billie Lourd and husband Austen Rydell were also spotted.
