You couldn’t imagine any place more alien to Nicolas Ghesquière’s progressive, decidedly modernist vision of fashion than the Palais des Papes in Avignon, a towering medieval edifice on which construction began in 1335. But, hey, isn’t there some kind of similarity between that and the buttressed institution of Louis Vuitton, whose meaning and identity Ghesquière has reinvented since he became artistic director of the house’s womenswear? Besides, alien contrasts are something that have always intrigued Ghesquière, clothes arresting and other, brave and new. But when Vuitton announced they were taking over the UNESCO world heritage site in April for their 2026 cruise show, it was the source of much curiosity. Where would this trip take us?
To Avignon, obviously – literally – but figuratively, it was also a trip through time. That’s something that has always interested Ghesquière, who has spent his career heading heritage houses, within the structures of which a reworking of history is both a privilege and a necessity. Given that Louis Vuitton is a house founded on the notion of travel, globe-trotting would be the expected route – but the expected is anathema to Ghesquière’s approach. So he has harnessed his own fascination with history to our perception of Vuitton, as a canny device to be able to leap back and forth through eras, discovering the new.
Nevertheless, this was the biggest leap Ghesquière has taken – all the way back to medieval times, and medieval garb, which was in essence the start of fashion as we know it. Namely, the first time the body was radically altered by the cut of clothes – padded silk jackets, long pointed shoes known as ‘poulaines’, hooded cowls draped around the head, derived from soldiers’ war clothes but rapidly absorbed into a play of wealth display and sexual attraction. It was the beginning of using fashion to truly refashion humanity. Then again, there was something oddly apt – even prescient – about this idea right now. The Palais des Papes, after all, was so-called because seven popes resided there in the 14th century, for historical reasons far too complicated to try and cram into an account of a truly exceptional fashion show. So, perhaps, this was Ghesquière’s equivalent of a conclave – declaring the fashion about to come, albeit without any smoke.
There was also something fitting about dressing women in the clothes of warriors of the Middle Ages. There is, of course, a long tradition of that in France – Jeanne d’Arc is the nation’s patron saint, after all. Her modern, model incarnations strode out at Vuitton, clad in reclamations and reimaginings of medieval clothes, twisted into the now. In many cases, it was simply Ghesquière’s resurrection and attitude that gave them a new currency: a brief, boxy 1360s tunic can apparently easily leap some 600 years to become allied to the creations of André Courrèges and Pierre Cardin that Ghesquière has always adored; a Maid Marion draped silk gown, patterned with the tinctures and armourial bearings of heraldic blazons, shook off all antiquation and felt like a reflection of modern femininity. Chain mail became slithers of silver lariats, draped into a shimmering mirage of a blouse that seemed to disintegrate and reform with the model’s movements, even on the livestream. Hems were pointed like the teeth of portcullises, boots bolstered with mirrored armour, and a black gown reminiscent of a religious habit was sliced open down one side, a great flounce escaping, its edges crenellated like a fortress tower. They clutched their bags like weapons. And, of course, women have plenty to fight for – and about – right now.
The most extraordinary measure of this show wasn’t Ghesquière’s jump into the past; plenty of others have harked back to medieval times, usually with campy costume drama results. But few have made it feel genuinely modern, supremely relevant, actually wearable. These clothes didn’t escape their origin story; rather, they celebrated it, transformed but not transmogrified, in a measure of Ghesquière’s great skill as a designer. They suddenly didn’t feel so alien anymore.
