STYLE

By Jessica Bailey

2 October 2024

PFW: At Louis Vuitton, Nicolas Ghesquière Has Us Time Travelling Again

For his Spring/Summer 2025 outing, Ghesquière uses the renaissance to play with the concept of “soft power."

louis-vuitton-ss25 — PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 01: A model walks the runway during the Louis Vuitton Paris Womenswear Spring-Summer 2025 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on October 01, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Kristy Sparow/WireImage)

There’s a reason Louis Vuitton always shows on the last day of Paris Fashion Week. One of the most highly-anticipated runways on the schedule—and this season, that means rivalling Alessandro Michele’s first show over at Valentino—the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2025 show did not disappoint.

Held inside the main courtyards of the Louvre Palace in Paris—and with a runway made entirely of LV trunks—creative director Nicolas Ghesquière invited his guests to travel back in time with him to the Renaissance. Drawing on his connection to this era, having grown up in a centuries-old chateaux in France’s Loire Valley, the first runway look comprised of an embellished blouson with ballooning sleeves and a cinched-in waist. Striped, and with regal buttons both down the front of the jacket and on its puffed-up sleeves, accents from of the bygone era were aplenty, albeit balanced with contemporary chunky leather sandals.

In the spirit of travelling, a garment’s fluidity took precedence: Billowing drop-waisted trenches floated atop the trunks. Sheer, embroidered culottes with leather hems were contrasted with feathered pumps. And the aforementioned blouse jackets flowed with an ease that was soft but had shoulders which were more than commanding. In this, Ghesquière was hell bent on highlighting his fascination with the oxymoron “soft power.”

“Sartorial soft power can also be a striking back-and-forth between two contradictory yet harmonious opposites,” the designer writes in the show notes. “The suppleness of structure. Intractable lightness. Mastering vibrations. Spidery depths. Ethereal opulence. Razor-sharp delicacy. Resolute femininity. The mechanics of fluidity…”

Soundtracked by Jamie xx’s new album In Waves, this season, pictorial works by French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso appeared on selected pieces. These reprise five paintings from the series aptly entitled Studies into the Past.

See all the highlights from the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2025 runway, and watch the show, below.