We've always loved Annie Hall. Look at any of RUSSH's commentary on fashion in the past decade and you'll be sure to find at least a handful of mentions of Diane Keaton's menswear-clad icon of the 70s. Menswear for womenswear has been a constant trend in the past years on the runways and in real life, we have the likes of Phoebe Philo to thank for that. But tell us that Nicholas Ghesquière would be putting models in rugby jerseys even a year ago and we're not sure we'd have followed along. For Louis Vuitton Fall 2022, Ghesquière brings menswear and then some forward, nodding to the school days where menswear as womenswear wasn't a trendy suit from The Row, but your boyfriend's unwashed rugby jersey that you've been hanging onto for weeks.
To open, the Annie Hall effect is in full swing. A mature look at what's to come for the collection. Squid Game's HoYeon Jung opens the show at the Musée D'Orsay – the first time the brand hasn't shown at the Louvre since 2017 – she wears a leather bomber, slouchy pinstripe trousers, and a colourful tie. There is no specific reference, no distinct time frame like Ghesquière often riffs on and mashes up, just a feeling of a period of life: young adulthood, and the raw, undone mess of it all.
As a dedication to youth, Ghesquière explores all of the feelings that come along with it – yearning, experimenting, learning, testing – through the clothes. It is apparent in architectural pinafore dresses that are layered with gogo boots and loose turtleneck sweaters; mismatched neck ties, slouchy trousers paired with sneakers, double breasted blazers and Prince of Wales jackets. The aforementioned rugby jersey is layered over top sheer, floor length dresses and belted at the waist with floral knitted sweaters, evoking the charming, frumpiness of youth.
He also paid tribute through David Sims, too. One of the most prominent photographers of his time, who came of age in the 90s and photographed his peers in exactly that way, like a young person finding what sets them on fire in the age of heroin-chic. For Fall 2022, Ghesquière applied and embroidered Sims’ images onto floral jacquard polos, alluding to those moments we are always trying to resurrect again.
There is a note of positivity, though, in the collection, that feels different to other displays of nostalgia we've seen on the runway in past seasons. Instead of a feeling of never being able to access moments of youthfulness again, Ghesquière offers them up in heaped spoons, wearable and available to inject joy into our wardrobe's again. Optimism and sentimentality replace rugged nostalgia, and Louis Vuitton bears the torch.
Watch the Louis Vuitton Fall 2022 show, below.
