Louis Vuitton's Final Fantasy

On his way to St. Barths, NG + LV has unveiled their latest casting coup:

Lightning by tetsuya nomura and visual works of square enix for the new @louisvuitton ad campaign #LVSS16

A photo posted by 🆖 (@nicolasghesquiere) on Dec 26, 2015 at 10:47am PST

Are we seeing a fan (deviant) ort? 

Da who?  

Answers:
No, it izz realz.

The character's name is Lightning, of video game Final Fantasy XIII.

LOUIS VUITTON has collaborated with Square Enix artist and designer Tetsuya Nomura to make the virtual heroine model clothing and accessories from LV's Spring-Summer 2016 collection

The overlap between Final Fantasy XIII fans and people who splash out on Louis Vuitton handbags might be a slim one, but modern marketing is all about exploiting those profitable niches.

- The Verge, Louis Vuitton gains +10 charisma by enlisting Final Fantasy’s Lightning

Lightning for @louisvuitton #lvss16

A photo posted by 🆖 (@nicolasghesquiere) on Dec 28, 2015 at 5:19am PST

He said of his collection presented last October:

I was thinking about this digital frontier, which I wanted to combine in harmony with the world of Louis Vuitton – the craft, the wardrobe. It’s an evocation of cyber, of what comes from digital – these characters or girls that are speaking to their generation.

Check out the latest one featuring Sense8 protanagist Doona Bae:

Striking @doonabae is starring in the new @louisvuitton Series 4 ad campaign SS16 pic by Juergen Teller

A photo posted by 🆖 (@nicolasghesquiere) on Dec 29, 2015 at 5:53am PST

P.S. Have a Happier 2016 everyone!

UPDATED:

LV's Series 4 campaign casting is killing it -- the latest name to pop in the womenswear Spring-Summer 2016 ad is young Hollywood actor Jaden Smith. 

@sarahdonnealia @riannevanrompaey @jean_campbell #jadensmith @christiaingrey in the new @louisvuitton SS16 ad Campaign photographed by Bruce Weber

A photo posted by 🆖 (@nicolasghesquiere) on Jan 3, 2016 at 6:37am PST

It is already 2016 indeed!

Backlog: GUCCI show is going to London

For what's turning out to be a Resort show tour of spectacular venues (LV will show Rio, Chanel in Havana), every fashion insiders' calendar in May-June 2016 is starting to fill up. GUCCI is the latest to announce its base for the excitable 'travelling' cruise collection's showcases and will present in London next year. 

Last June for Resort 2016, he chose another fashion capital, New York City, and brought his eccentric wardrobe to a carpeted industrial warehouse space in buzzy Chelsea.

No further details - regarding date and exact location - have been confirmed at this point.

Maybe next time, they should consider going down under. "Sydney is the ultimate city beach life," Michael Kors said.

See: the Sass and Bide-clothed ANTM finalists 


with other models walked on a raised wood runway in a venue overlooking Sydney harbor. This was in 2007, 2007!

Or this something-recent one: the Ten Pieces collection which was presented at the emptied beachside pool.

Something of a total-immersion experience where the meaning of “croisière‘” is at its warmest. These days, it's Summer there.

Indeed: 2015 is the Year of Destination Runway; And more ..

.. to come (go?) in 2016: LV announces via VOGUE Brasil its escapade in Brazil will be on May 28th (Memorial Day weekend in 'Murica).

Breaking news: a Vogue tem orgulho de anunciar, em avant-première, a data do desfile da @louisvuitton no Rio de Janeiro. @nicolasghesquiere, diretor artístico das coleções femininas, apresentará sua próxima Cruise Collection no dia 28 de maio. Leia mais em www.vogue.globo.com e save the date. Seja bem-vindo, Nicolas! #louisvuitton #LVCruise (foto by Karim Sadli)

A photo posted by Vogue Brasil (@voguebrasil) on Dec 11, 2015 at 5:01am PST

Translation: Breaking news: Vogue is proud to announce , in avant- première , the date of louisvuitton parade in Rio de Janeiro . nicolasghesquiere , artistic director of womenswear , will present its next Cruise Collection on 28 May. Read more in www.vogue.globo.com and save the date . Welcome , Nicolas ! #louisvuitton #LVCruise (Photo by Karim Sadli )

For 2015, indeed, it is all about location, location, location. VOGUE's Sarah Mower reflects:

At some of its frontiers, fashion show production has melted into something more like a movie or theater production—a closer and closer parallel now that actresses are fully involved at every turn in the publicity, except for taking actual turns on the runway. This is fashion as spectacle, for spectators rather than shoppers, entertainment on a grand, broadcast scale. There are franchise wars between fashion conglomerates, just like franchise wars between movie brands. Competition between the big houses—the drive to outdo one another, to up the ante and stand out from the next brand—is the drug that has been causing this year’s extravagant spate of fashion “tripping.” 

In exciting 2016, as Louis Vuitton will brave Brazil, Chanel will be heading to Cuba, and Gucci will go to kooky London. It's the beginning of something.

(Update: Chanel is to kick off the 2016's 'Traveling Resort Showcase' in Havana, Cuba on May 3; whilst Gucci has slated its London showing on June 2 -- Max Mara chose to show in London too -- closely following LV's cruise in Rio.)

Jonathan Saunders Will Close His Label -- and Decamping To .. ?

The presence of charming Scottish-born designer Jonathan Saunders 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TARA DARBY

with his colorful namesake label won't return in London Fashion Week by February next year. 

How? Fashionista reports:

 Jonathan Saunders announced on Tuesday that he is stepping down from his role as creative director of his eponymous label for personal reasons, and that the brand will cease operations. The decision to "wind the company down," as noted in an official statement, comes from both Saunders and his investor Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, who hired the label's first CEO in July. The company will continue to honor and fulfill orders placed on its most recent collection for spring 2016. 

"It is not a decision that I take lightly and I am eternally grateful to my team for all their hard work and dedication," said Saunders. "Eiesha has not only been a fantastic partner over the last year but an incredible support and we remain close. I am very thankful for all of the friends that I have across the industry, and I look forward to working with everyone again soon on future creative projects."

Why? Perhaps, *hint, hint* because DIOR:

Jonathan Saunders to Dior? Maybe. I know a designer or two who were interviewed for the job and LVMH wants them to close their lines.

— bryanboy (@bryanboy) December 8, 2015

Hmmm. Indeed: Dior's creative director is one of the prize posts in fashion. Need we to be reminded?

Backlog: Fashion Consultant Jean-Jacques Picart on the Fashion Shows's System

In a very reflective interview for Vogue.com, French fashion consultant JPP tackles his career-spanning thoughts on the ins and outs of the fashion world.

On fashion shows:
“Today’s ‘super-production’ show formula is at a tipping point. Up until the Internet, fashion shows were for professionals; now they’re for general consumption. But the message for the industry is not the same as the one for the street: Professionals can decode the runway and get excited about things that are ‘unwearable,’ but the general public takes it at face value, and then copiers can take the unwearable and make it palatable—all of that worries me.

“And forget standing ovations like the one Alber Elbaz got for his Spring 2003 collection for Lanvin: People hardly applaud anymore because their hands are occupied with their smartphones. People have one eye on the runway and the other on the screen. Who can concentrate like that?

“Do we really need to spend so much when money is hard to come by for almost everyone? You can’t have one show serve two objectives. A spectacle is entertainment for fashion lovers, social networks, and buzz; they should happen when the clothes are in-store because people want to buy clothes when they see them, not six months later. I’d love to see the fashion houses with means do a beautiful, scaled-down presentation during Fashion Week, and a spectacle later, which anyway would be a better advertising strategy. Cash-strapped young designers could just focus on the clothes. Later, when they are established, they can get into entertainment if they want. It’s time to reinvent things, but the answer is going to come from the younger generation—not from an old guy like me.

Chanel goes When in a Roman Holiday

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel told writer Paul Morand (The Allure of Chanel [Pushkin Press]), “Fashion should express the place, the moment.”

For its annual Métiers d’Art (alongside Resort) held in special places every December (and May for Resort/Cruise), Karl Lagerfeld does exactly that.


With the fashion fans, press and retailers gathered in Roma today for Chanel’s Pre-Fall 2016 outing, here are feel-good movies set in the Eternal City.


Rome has such an amazing history and when you visit the city, you get to see this history, as shown in Roman Holiday.

And the food. Of course; it was the first to-do in Eat, Pray, Love.

And oh, our childhood favorites:

When In Rome with MK (Related: MARY-KATE OLSEN AND OLIVIER SARKOZY REPORTEDLY MARRIED ON BLACK FRIDAY) and A O.; and

The Lizzie McGuire Movie (wehehehe)

Karl Lagerfeld's short Once and Forever starring Kristen Steward will debut at Rome's Cinecittà studios, as part of the spectacle. That, and we'll see how KL and Co. imbues Rome, Italy. into the latest Chanel collection.