The Paris Louis Vuitton show appeared to be a funeral of sorts, a gothic Water World that marked the end of Marc Jacob’s legendary 16-year reign as their artistic director. Yet, it was an elaborately staged funeral, a farewell full of carousels, fountains, and theatrics only Jacobs could imagine. If he was going to go he wasn’t going to do so quietly. He was going to be the most dramatic and showy widow, the one who evades funeral attire with sequins and see-through.
The sable garments with their exquisite beading and witchy silhouettes were stunning enough to warrant perennial mourning. Yet the inclusion of feathered headdresses (think Cher at the ‘86 Oscars) and leather jackets suggested that the monochromatic black line is more sophisticated than somber. Said Jacobs, “Black to me is the color of the chicest women in Paris, it’s Juliette Gréco, it’s Françoise Hardy, it’s Édith Piaf in a little black dress, it’s the left bank of Paris. It seemed like the chicest way to show all these dazzling textures.”
In addition to being an end of the Jacobs era, the Louis Vuitton show was partly an ode to Paris as well, as a body jumpsuit overlaid with the words “I Love Paris” explicitly displayed. The pattern harkened back to both the brand’s graffiti lettering as well as the designer’s first collaboration with Stephen Sprouse in 2000.
Jacobs will continue to concentrate on his eponymous line, which is now nearing $1 billion in sales.
