Morning:
8°c
Zing! The Louis Vuitton show was the visual equivalent of sucking on a slice of lemon at the bottom of a long, cool glass of gin. And the models were the elegant Playboy bunnies serving it.
To an audience flagging on the last day of a jam-packed fashion week, this was just the jolt required to awaken the senses again.
Even without the gin, there was so much going on in this collection that the brain struggled to process it.
The opening look, a cantilevered skirt and sheer lace blouse through which the model's nipples stared like two defiant eyes, set the tone for a collection that took its cue from the flirtatious cancan dancers that kick for their supper at the Folies Bergère. In this, it was quintessentially French, although the way it was put together was very British.
The show was styled by Katie Grand, a Londoner who also moonlights as the editor of Love magazine. Wherever there is a kooky bow, there is a Katie, and this show was full of them, providing vivid colour pops of sweetie pink and emerald on otherwise plain black dresses. Grand's touch was also evident in the models' ironic bunny ears that were wired as though plugged into some sort of electrical current.
Cheeky touches were everywhere, from the peekaboo keyhole backs on a taffeta puffball dress, to the fluorescent pink bras peeping through a black lace blouse.
How typical of Marc Jacobs, too, to out-do every other thigh boot in Paris this week, with a series of ultra-high black suede ones featuring laces, zips, bows and heels that tapered to a perilously narrow middle point before widening out again.
Textures were rich and varied, with ruched leather skirts, ruched satin dresses and skinny jumpers with ruched side panels giving an Eighties feel. Coats came festooned with rosettes of satin, skirts were made from rows of cut-out squares while oversized puff shoulders, as big as Mickey Mouse ears, were made from layers of ruffled frills. It was all very eight-year-old's birthday party, in a deluxe kind of way.
In addition to all the souped-up Eighties fare — the luxurious riffs on ra-ra skirts, the cartoonish puff-sleeved dresses — there was a selection of more sober garments too, such as a cherry red belted coat, beautiful in its simplicity, or a soft beige jacket with curved shoulders. These provided a refreshing change of pace.
While your heart soared at the artistry, your bank balance shivered at the mere thought of how much it would all cost. Not that price will be any impediment to its legion of fans: Louis Vuitton's whole reputation is built on being one of the most expensive labels in the firmament, yet so successful is the jewel in parent company LVMH's crown that it never, ever, has markdowns.
No, not even in a recession. Recession is what happens in another land, where the bunny ears are droopy and the lemons taste sour.
