Nicolas Ghesquière stages a present-tense show beneath suspended flying cars at the Louvre, trading avant-garde shapes for wearable ease.
Nicolas Ghesquière presented Louis Vuitton's spring/summer 2027 collection beneath a suspended traffic jam of "flying" cars in the Cour Carrée du Louvre on Thursday night. While futurism is well-trodden ground for the designer, this season's interpretation carried an unmistakably contemporary sensibility.
The show opened with light, wearable pieces: a paneled semi-sheer midi dress, a flowing V-neck dress fastened with a safety pin, and a T-shirt and silk skirt paired with a close-fitting knit cardigan. Despite the forward-looking set design, these garments felt immediately of-the-moment.
What followed marked a notable shift from Ghesquière's fall/winter 2026 presentation, which embraced extravagant, otherworldly silhouettes. This season offered delicate open-knit tanks, car coats, and nylon anoraks in restrained cuts and muted palettes. Yet traces of his experimental impulse remained.
The designer introduced subtle oddities to familiar forms. Skirts and midi dresses featured iridescent embellishments arranged in patterns resembling argyle, while ruffled cape necklines provided dramatic accents. The overall effect nodded to 1960s mod aesthetics and 1990s minimalism without losing sight of forward momentum.
Reflecting broader runway trends this season, the shapes prioritized comfort and practicality for urban living. In his show notes, Ghesquière articulated "a notion of design fundamentally shaped by the conditions, capabilities, and movement of the human body"—evident in the technical materials and loose, relaxed proportions throughout.
Tailoring, too, embraced informality. Formal coats displayed upturned lapels and were styled with billowing silk trousers. A black waistcoat received characteristic Ghesquière treatment when a model threaded her arms through the side slits rather than the conventional armholes. The closing look paired a structured black pantsuit with a trailing printed carré scarf, lending a sense of fluidity.
The final image captured the collection's essence: aspirational yet grounded, futuristic yet functional. The flying cars hovered overhead, but the clothes were built for the streets below.