As the light from the sun melted into the blue sky, a goddess appeared between two concrete columns wearing a long snake print dress that wrapped around her head. It was a different world, curated by Nicolas Ghesquière and bounded by Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute in La Jolla, San Diego. The Louis Vuitton 2023 Resort Collection combined futuristic aesthetic with aspects of practical summer wear.

 

Pulling from the designs of water sport attire and the elements from the architecture of the venue, the collection featured metallic fabric, hanging mirrors from the neckline to the ankles and box-like sets. There was comfort and mobility, but there was complexity in the way that each piece was layered to either illuminate the sun as the concrete did or protect against it. Linen scarves, flat soled shoes and voluminous dresses reflected a reimagined vision Ghesquière had for this year’s collection. Each look incorporated different fabrics on top of one another emulating the complication of the time we have been living in, while making it functional.

 

Each model came out on a balcony overlooking the wide runway before making their way down. Ghesquière referred to each as a “goddess” with armor in the form of carved, shiny shoulder pads, big bangles and massive dresses that went around the top of the head. Belts wrapped around the models’ stomachs as statement accessories rather than for their objective use. But the art was truly apparent in the designs of the jackets that had hanging material stitched all over, zippers and buckles. Stars such as Emma Roberts, Gemma Chan, Ana de Armas Phoebe Dynevor and many more stood applauding the designers’ unique creativity as the weight of each perfectly curated look didn’t take away from their ability to flow with ease down the runway.