Louis Vuitton Cruise 2021 ‘Game On’ — a departure of an inner journey, where time is a social security factor. ‘Game On’ is Ghesquière’s strategy of asserting the fashion game
In an average year, fashion week season gathers creatives and professionals, providing a sphere for contemplations. What political objections can be sensed in the creations? Does the designer fuse the House’s history with modernity and character? In these times, overshadowed by uncertainty and social-distancing regulations, the gambling mindset of various Creative Directors became apparent – the collections played with the turbulences of the moment, translating the suppressing circumstances into blooming creations.
The Louis Vuitton Cruise Collection 2021 was a departure inwards, unveiling Ghesquière’s strategy of asserting the fashion game. Under the name ‘Game On’, the Creative Director winds back to a period where an exploration of one’s territory plays out via style-aroused emotions, momentous colors, intrepid cuts. While the previous Louis Vuitton Cruise Collection 2020 runway was staged inside the spread-winged 1962 TWA Flight Center, designed by late architect Eero Saarinen, the Cruise collection 2021 was shot at Ghesquière’s studio in Paris’s Pont-Neuf, playing with contrasts and shapes and textures. «Rather a departure of an inner journey, where time is a social security factor».
The Creative Director plays the unpredictable game of fashion by doing what creative minds do best: referencing. Fusing the lightness and playfulness of his designs with the already established, deciding the batch in his favor. «I looked somewhere that has been calling out to me for a long time, somewhere I hadn’t taken the time to go back to. To uncover one inspiration after another. This is an exploration of my creative identity», Ghesquière said in a statement.
Detachable collars put the contrasting colors orange and blue in a harmonizing juxtaposition. Horizontally Sailor-striped leggings twist the firmness of a grey, strong-shouldered blazer and a box-fitted middy green coat around their finger. «A contradiction, but not a constraint». Ghesquière amalgamates class with sports-chic, composing sweatpants roused by suit bottoms. Trousers in heroic reds and blues are being curbed by settled black and white contrasts. Short dresses and accessories are canvasses for the Louis Vuitton monogram, winding the House’s heritage with conscious twists of modernity. Monogrammed bags take the shape of a heart, transform into dyes or appear as a deck of cards. «It is the symbolism of the deck of cards, the loyal companion of the traveler, entertainment that gives meaning to being together».
Ghesquière outlines the uncertainty of these times, emphasizing that one has to administer to the circumstances – Take the inspiration surrounding you, do not bet on the unknown, but finesse with what you know. «Game On is an adventure in which all the knowledge of the Maison plays its role, led by the passion for craftsmanship, which is the trump card. It is time for the designer to summarize and enclose elective affinities. Time for creative contemplation that allows you to rediscover yourself».
