Louis Vuitton presented their 2017 Cruise collection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum. Set against the Atlantic Ocean, on a cliff overlooking the beach and Rio’s mountainous landscape, the winding walkway of the futuristic, utopia-like location made for a catwalk that was just as breath-taking as the clothes. Guests were seated on a single row of mismatched crates in bright shades, with a celebrity-studded crowd, including Alicia Vikander, Jaden Smith, Chiara Ferragni and Alessandra Ambrosio.
Brazilian idealism and Rio de Janeiro are the inspiration and starting point for the resort range. With its vivid, rainbow colours, ruffled accents and both grand prix and fútbol-inspired prints, the collection was an artful tribute to the city’s culture, capturing their vitality, energy, multi-culturalism, and freedom. Dresses with a streamlined spirit illustrate a sporty silhouette, with asymmetrical hems and slashed stripes on trousers to lengthen the silhouette. Luxuriously embroidered skirts appear to have been wrapped in haste, in the manner of a beach towel. Accessories included a classic Vuitton trunk fashioned into a boombox, belts and handbags with racing graphics and lots of easy, flat footwear, including gladiator-style flip-flops and pointed-toe boots. Further paying tribute to Rio, the collection also features a print from Brazilian artist Aldemir Martins’ ‘Rhoda Collection,’ recast on Louis Vuitton’s classic pieces.
‘I so admire the power of Oscar Niemeyer’s conviction. His vision, his radicality, his utopia even. Being able to show a fashion collection in such an architecturally powerful space is a sensorial experience. In Rio de Janeiro, what I saw most of all was movement and an explosive energy that lives somewhere between modernism and tropicality. I was fascinated by the constant duality between nature and urbanism and the pictorial explosion it creates. For me, the main question was how to incorporate into my collection all these elements that are part of Brazilian culture, without forgetting that I am just a visitor who brings his own Parisian and French cultural references to the moment.’
– Nicolas Ghesquière
