Louis Vuitton Fall 2011 Show Review
Photos: Imaxtree
Looks from the Louis Vuitton Fall 2011 collection
Show: Louis Vuitton (See the full runway collection.)
Hair: Guido Paulo
Makeup: Pat McGrath
Accessories: Lockit handbag (with matching handcuffs), mary janes and knee-high patent boots, shearling and fur officers' caps
Theme: Fetish
Overall Takeaway: The most luxurious little whorehouse in all of Paris
We should have seen it coming: French maids on the staircase outside; black padded-leather benches inside; an invite that was, to all intents and purposes, a deluxe spanking paddle. Marc Jacobs went fetish for Louis Vuitton's Fall 2011 show.
But despite all those clues (and the fact that he explored the same theme three weeks ago in New York for his own label), Jacobs still managed to knock us sideways with this latest offering of unabashed kink.
In contrast to the hobbled skirts and lashings of latex he showed in New York, Jacobs anchored the Vuitton look in the grand French tradition of the Jolie Madame. Well, maybe more Madam—these ladies were dressed in strict tweed suits, printed '40s-style dresses, and skirt-and-sweater combos with rectangular paillettes. Granted, the sweaters were leather, the tweeds came backed onto vinyl, and the models were handcuffed in those little silk dresses, but for all the fetish there was a hell of a lot of fashion. And incredibly desirable fashion at that.
Fetish is, of course, just as often focused on inanimate objects as pretty girls trussed up in sexy stockings. Vuitton fans will, as ever, find much to fantasize about when this collection hits the stores.
Any foot-fancier will be enthralled by Jacobs's plasticized mary janes or rubber knee-high boots. A handbag lover will willingly shackle herself to the new Lockit in Vuitton Monogram (or, as it has been redubbed, "Mon, Oh! Gram"—Jacobs's wares never, ever come without a wry dose of humor).
As for the sight of Kate "the Great" Moss making a long-overdue runway comeback in rubberized lace and goat fur, wreathed in Marlboro smoke like a good time had by all? We would all welcome such a vision at 10 a.m.—especially when it comes barely clothed by Marc Jacobs at his powerful, provocative finest.
SEE THE FALL 2011 RUNWAY COLLECTIONS
