Louis Vuitton Creates French Girl Style at Paris Fashion Week
It’s been a while since we’ve experienced total French-girl style obsession. But this season, the French muse seems to be the talk of the town—at least. with all the major labels at Paris Fashion Week. Dior, Saint Laurent, and now, Louis Vuitton have all touched on the subject in recent days.
Taking place in the vaulted salons of the Musée d’Orsay, Louis Vuitton’s fall 2023 show opened with the question, “What is French style?” To set the scene, the lights flickered and the sounds of airplanes and trains in the midst of travel melded with the surroundings. A softer side of French dressing was instantly revealed: chunky, pleated blazers were belted and layered over dynamic, textural dresses; pinstripes were blown up to massive proportions and positioned on balloon-like trousers and jackets; sculptural dresses came layered over chunky tops; and long, tailored coats and red leather pants meshed to create a new vision of creative director Nicolas Ghesquière’s twisted take on all things French.
Up close, the details showed a strong subversion of the classic conservatism that has deep roots in French style—but even so, compared to Ghesquière’s last few collections for Louis Vuitton, this one more deeply echoed the idea of quiet luxury over elemental maximalism.
Among the range, blazers were elegantly draped, softly pleated and cinched to the body with belts, while leather coats appeared like wool with embossment and printed treatments. Check suits arrived packed with scarves attached to their sports coats, and thick knits formed both angular dresses and cardigans alike. For many pieces, details were the main event, including sequined, leather jeans that were painted with pinstripes and web-like dresses that required thousands of metal coils to construct a three-dimensional shape.
Pearl necklaces, a quintessential French accessory, were deconstructed and utilized across lace dresses. Meanwhile, café uniforms were reinvented as little black dresses with white collars and shoulder cuffs, celebrating the distinction of France’s service industries. Another France signature, the Tricolore, appeared in red, white and blue on both the House’s GO 14 shoulder bag and leather gloves.
