Martin Scorcese’s film “Killers of the Flower Moon” seems to be the inspiration for Louis Vuitton’s autumn-winter 2024/2025 show, which completed the opening day of Paris Fashion Week for the season..
Pharrell Williams’ new western embraced the intersection of cowboy dress and Native American symbolism. However, this cross-cultural connection provided an opportunity for Louis Vuitton’s ateliers to display their competence.
On the cowboy side, fringed jackets, sheriff’s ascots, Stetsons, cowboy boots, denim (of course) coated with pearls and sequins or softened with floral designs, leather pants resembling horse saddle embossing, and plaids for chilly desert evenings all repeated the typical chequerboard pattern. Suede, denim, leather, and raw materials all came patinated, as if weathered in the prairie heat of the great American West.
On the Native American side, there is beautiful masonry (turquoise is common and usually saved for the summer), hand painting, and needlework. Dakota and Lakota (Sioux tribe) artisans and craftsmen made parfleche blankets and Dakota Flower scarves as well.
The clothing used by the performers were designed by Dee Jay Two Bears of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and embellished with modern winter counting patterns, chronicling the history of the cooperation and the collection’s production through the visual language of glyphs.
The show was notable for two things: the presence of women’s silhouettes, which is a common element in this age of fluidity, but it’s also worth noting that Nicolas Ghesquière approves of women’s silhouettes at Louis Vuitton; and the presence of a fur coat (most likely fox) and the famous Speedy crocodile bag, at a time when animal ethics are in high demand. PETA activists quickly expressed their outrage by attempting to intervene in the show.
