Nicolas Ghesquière’s neoprene pieces were perfect at Isola Bella, surrounded by water and Baroque design.
Louis Vuitton women’s creative director Nicolas Ghesquière couldn’t have picked a more captivating or inspiring venue for his Cruise 2024 Show. The collection was revealed yesterday amid the breathtaking landscapes of Northern Italy’s Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) on Lake Maggiore.
Isola Bella
Isola Bella is best known for its Palazzo Borromeo, Baroque architecture and gardens, picturesque vistas and rich cultural heritage. It was built over 400 years and filled with masterpieces from European artists and furniture designed for royalty.
Ghesquière seamlessly merged Baroque aesthetics with artistic craftsmanship, resulting in a lineup of flowing silhouettes as well as structured neoprene inspired by the show’s surroundings.
A material that is easily molded and shaped, neoprene allowed Ghesquière to get into an aquatic fantasy world—with one piece looking like an actual wetsuit.
According to the show notes, the collection was imagined “as a tale of the extraordinary, open to a myriad of influences revealing a hybrid elegance. Like Isola Bella, a ship of greenery sailing between myth and reality, Nicolas Ghesquière finds the new balance of a contemporary femininity and ultra-romance in this paradoxical notion.”
Ghesquière has been creative director for women’s at Louis Vuitton since 2013, replacing Marc Jacobs. His first show in 2014 featured designs inspired by the ‘70s and ‘80s. By 2018, his love for pop culture found its way into the French house by way of a Stranger Things T-shirt tribute (he’s friends with Millie Bobby Brown).
His Cruise 2024 showcased intricate details and meticulous artistry, with handsewn embroideries, delicate beadwork, and elaborate lacework adorning the garments.
Neoprene, the waterproof material first developed for wetsuits, figures prominently in pieces inspired by underwater life not unlike Aquaman’s. A material that is easily molded and shaped, and with a sleek texture that adds a high-fashion aesthetic, it allowed Ghesquière to get into a fantasy world of avant-garde and aquatic designs, even sporty pieces—and one that looks like an actual wetsuit. A stylized wetsuit, of course.
Nicolas Ghesquière’s neoprene pieces were perfect at Isola Bella, surrounded by water and Baroque design.
