Scientific research claims that the act of planning a trip, one you don't even intend on taking, boosts dopamine levels the same way actually traveling can. With flight restrictions in play and the population still largely unvaccinated, the very thought of venturing outside of your country—hell, out of your borough—can induce anxiety, so using our imagination is all we have. Louis Vuitton is tapping into that exact energy.
Collaborating with Fornasetti, an Italian artistic design atelier founded in 1940, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière explored the rich, 13,000-piece archive of prints and paintings as the starting point for his fall-winter 2021 collection. "As a designer who has always loved fashion’s ability to evoke the past, present and future simultaneously, I wanted to add new layers to this creative palimpsest," he stated in the show notes. "Exploring the Fornasetti archives had the excitement of an archaeological dig, searching for and finding drawings from the past to give them a new life for Louis Vuitton—for now and the future.”
Contrapposto sculptures are stamped on Speedys and juxtaposed against Ghesquière's signature futurism in washes of metallic gold. Iconic columns and marbled busts are playfully remastered as rainbow prints. Silhouettes come oversized and unrestrictive—these obtuse shapes are now a familiar house code. Oversized anoraks and unrestrictive tent dresses are the main players of the collection, with textures contrasting from tweed to nylon to high-tech jacquard. Bags came as literal busts, and boots were worn heavy and functional, a true mark of the times.
While we can't venture off to the ruins of Ancient Greece, we can view the collection as a taste for what's to come, a little surge of wanderlust dopamine. After all, you can't look forward without acknowledging the past.
All the Looks from Louis Vuitton's Fall-Winter 2021 Collection
Justine Carreon is the market editor at ELLE.com covering fashion, Dutch ovens, and fashion again. When she isn’t approaching style through a modern, accessible lens, she’s scouring eBay for vintage Levi’s and pretending she knows how to surf. Before joining ELLE.com in 2015 she worked as a freelance writer and stylist in New York City.
