Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière’s decade at the pinnacle of fashion

Aug 5 , 2024

Nicolas Ghesquiere, women’s creative director at Louis Vuitton, has had the job for a decade and has no plans to leave anytime soon. Photos: Handout

Ghesquière trained with Jean Paul Gaultier and spent 16 years at Balenciaga before taking over from Marc Jacobs at the storied LVMH-owned brand – innovations include introducing cruise collections and the iconic Petite Malle trunk

Louis Vuitton – the trunk maker and leather goods house known around the world as a symbol of French luxury – might have been established in 1854, but its history with ready-to-wear is far shorter.

It was only in 1998 that the first women’s ready-to-wear collection was designed and presented by Marc Jacobs. Then, in 2013, he handed over the position of women’s artistic director to Nicolas Ghesquière. (Pharrell Williams became LV’s men’s creative director in late 2023.)

Ghesquière was formerly at Balenciaga, which he single-handedly brought back to life with memorable shows that have come to define the early aughts. That was after the French designer trained under celebrated couturier Jean Paul Gaultier.

When he joined “Vuitton”, as he refers to the house, he was widely expected to bring his futuristic design ethos to the storied Parisian label. He defied expectations with his first collection though, shown in the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in March 2014, presenting a wardrobe of key pieces for women on the go.

“My first season was very well thought out and balanced – almost too balanced for some people, who thought, ‘This is it?’” he says, talking to Style in Paris this summer. “They were expecting more architectural elements and more spectacle, and I wanted to show that for many reasons – because I had moved houses and evolved – my signature was to contribute to building a wardrobe and those codes.

“We can say that today this is established and the business has become phenomenal. The entire silhouette exists, with bags and shoes, so I think now there is this mission to add new elements to that vocabulary.”

Ghesquière’s contribution to Louis Vuitton has been remarkable. Besides building a universe around ready-to-wear, he has been responsible for the creation of now-iconic and hard-to-replicate objects like the Petite Malle, the trunk-shaped bag that he unveiled at his first show and that is still one of the label’s signature pieces.

“I developed these new codes and a recognisable silhouette that people will say is the Louis Vuitton style,” he says. “It’s something you always work on. There is the fashion intention that’s so important – the things you’re going to propose for the next three to six months. And then there is the style, which is done to last and is almost timeless. So you’re always working on those two elements that are very strong. You’re a sprinter but you also run a marathon.”

It’s this ability to straddle commercial savvy and fashion with a capital “F” that is at the heart of Ghesquière’s tenure at Louis Vuitton. He is part of a generation of designers who came of age at a time when luxury groups like LVMH began to dominate the industry. The job of a designer also began to change, from that of sheltered creator ensconced in a studio far away from the real world, to that of a creative involved in every aspect of the business.