Louis Vuitton Exhibition: Series 3

On Monday 12^th October 2015, I had the privilege to visit the LV: Series 3 Exhibition. It was one of the best exhibitions I’ve ever been to, by creating the perfect balance of all the senses. The exhibition showcased the A/W15 collection by Nicolas Ghesquiere, showing the journey of his creative process. The concept of the exhibition was very inspirational, from the product designs to the exhibition interaction.

Each room had a different story to tell, and was told in such imaginative and unique ways. From sitting down in front of desk-screens enabling you to imagine yourself making the products, to watching them being made before you very own eyes in the workshop, each experience was new. My favourite room was the Infinite Show, reliving the actual A/W15 show of 48 looks. The use of space in the room (and throughout the whole exhibition) showed great spacial awareness: they had large LED TV screens pinpointed around the room showing the models on the catwalk, with the aim for us to walk around the models instead of them walking around us.

A constant motif throughout the exhibition was how the history of the brand affects the present. Michael Burke, the CEO of LV, said “The past inspires the present. The present, when combined with the past, creates new icons that bring the future to life and reaches towards eternity. These three time frames allow us to reinvent the known and discover the unknown”. There are hints of the original iconic trunks throughout the collection, showing the importance of the past. One of my favourite historical interpretations was the inspiration behind the Petite Malle bag. Ghesquiere recreated the iconic LV trunk into a more desirable format and smaller version, presenting the creation in his first show, and with it being a huge success. It was initially inspired by a legendary trunk belonging to the photographer Albert Kahn, who also had three ‘X’s on his trunk to enable him to identify it, and which have also been featured in some of the new designs by Ghesquiere in this collection.