Louis Vuitton has unveiled a new luxury Eldorado in Seoul

Welcome to Seoul, the capital city of Asian cool, non-stop visual telescope (secular temples, traditional markets, but also neighborhoods that seem to have emerged from a futuristic video game), den of high-end shopping, proclaimed rival of Tokyo, proclaimed guardian empress. obviously he didn’t say his last word.

However, all eyes converge on the capital of South Korea. the country is clearly the Eldorado of luxury brands; just walk around any neighborhood in the city to see for yourself. to see that youth, particularly dynamic and instructive, is covered. with brands and logos from head to toe.

Louis Vuitton is extremely well established there. There are 18 stores in Seoul alone, more than in Paris, and the turnover is significant, estimated at more than 1.1 billion euros by 2022, according to Bloomberg. Therefore, it is in this extremely auspicious context that the luxury trunk maker organized the first Prefall show there this Saturday evening on April 29, news that all luxury players should probably follow (the House of Dior preceded it in India just a few weeks ago. ). It was necessary to strike hard and fast. Louis Vuitton’s brilliant new CEO Pietro Beccari wanted it that way, and artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière showed a particularly attractive collection there.

Bridge, symbol and metaphor

Surfing the international Netflix series craze Squid Game: , its director Hwang Dong-hyuk was involved in making the show a special moment. It was he who proposed the site, the Jamsugyo Bridge, a monumental submerged structure that connects the two banks of the Hangang River, the districts of Gangnam and Gangbuk; movement, water and its changing reflections. This bridge also has the distinction of being equipped with rainbow fountains that jut out from its upper level, a popular landmark in the city and a godsend for the show.

But it rained heavily in Seoul on Saturday, and when the rain stopped just before the show, ice storms blanketed the deck and chilled the 900 guests, who had previously been provided with cages and heaters. At 8 p.m., the parade began with a sharp repertoire that mixed traditional Korean music, avant-garde and K-pop, Korea’s hegemonic genre, here represented in the front row by charming puppets and singers. Le Sserafim group. We also saw Chloë Grace Moretz, Alicia Vikander, Sosson Mbedou, Jaden Smith and his mother or French Marina Fois, all friends or house muses.

Martial and hieratic fascination

It’s Hyeon, the beautiful heroine Squid Game: and Vuitton’s muse, who opened the show, combative and hieratic allure, a blue windbreaker tucked into a black leather trapeze skirt, Alma bag in hand. Models paraded across this 795-meter bridge on an unprecedentedly long catwalk.

Nicolas Ghesquière creates fashion that suits many different women and therefore many different bodies

Marina Fois

The collection draws on the strong architectural lines of a modern heroine, a vigorous, especially feminine, yet faithful designer. “We sometimes say that Nicolas Ghesquière has cerebral fashion, but we say less often that his fashion goes for so many different women, and therefore so many different bodies. He kept something very specific, which makes him unique. She makes clothes, doesn’t she?the outfits“. He taught me a lot about myself,” enthused Marina Fois, sitting next to actress Doona Bae, most notably seen in Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan Wook.

As always, references, forms and materials collide, but the sweetness has clearly gone that way; This remarkable Louis Vuitton Prefall collection is meant to be loved and will be loved.

In the video: Zendaya, Catherine Deneuve… the guests of the Vuitton fashion show at the Musée d’Orsay.