Find all the episodes of the series “Surprise Invite” here.
The invitation to a parade is not only a taste of the show to come, it is also an object of remembrance. The leather envelopes designed by Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton are part of this ceremony. Especially since the French designer has been able to establish a form of ritual that enhances the symbolic and sentimental value of the object. Since he officiated in the artistic direction of the women’s collections of the trunk maker, the designer sends, for each of his shows, to his guests (between 360 and 1,600 each season) a leather envelope that summons the imagination of travel, dear at home. Attention that the happy recipients are now watching.
In anticipation of each fashion week, the designer chooses a color and a finish in line with the inspirations of the collection and the location of the show. Shiny black, red, white, green, silver, sienna, gold… The palette is wide. With his twenty-nine parades, Nicolas Ghesquière has therefore sent twenty-nine types of envelopes to date, sometimes matte, sometimes varnished, sometimes metallic, often monochrome but also two-tone, three-tone and even monogrammed (only once). On the other hand, it remains rather faithful to one material: these small pockets, as chic as they are practical, which close with a press stud, are made in the famous Epi leather of the house, whose embossed surface evokes the undulating ears of corn. sun in wheat fields.
After the parade, the envelopes become pockets or card holders, some tie a ribbon to transform them into a belt or a pendant… Others slip in birthday cards, their passport, or keep them preciously, by attachment or by speculative strategy. Not marketed by the house, offered to guests, these envelopes are sometimes resold on second-hand sites for one or several hundred euros, because, from now on, collectors are looking for them. To date, it is estimated that around 20,000 copies are in circulation worldwide, one of which is kept at the Palais Galliera, the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris. Proof that these envelopes, many times copied by other luxury houses, are part of the heritage of fashion.
Find all the episodes of the series “Surprise invite” here.