Louis Vuitton S/S RTW 09 – Josephine Baker meets Africa!
Posted by v on October 6, 2008
“It’s not Africa, it’s not anywhere – it’s all about Paris,” said the Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs .
Sorry, Mr. Jacobs, we beg to differ. This was straight out of Africa. This was Africa and Josephine Baker all together. You be the judge. There was Africa in the green feathered skirt, tribal markings on the shoes, in the carved wooden earrings, in the bags with leopard spots, in the pants. Perhaps not in the Polka dots but everywhere you looked, there was a distinctly pulsating groove.
Louis Vuitton, much like quite a number of designers looked to Africa for inspiration for their Spring 09 collection. As gorgeous as the clothes, were, the accessories were sensational. The handbags and shoes had this Morroccan feel to them. The necklaces had a Masai feel to them as did the bracelets.
And the bags are back!!!! Yes, the six handled Louis Vuitton purse of Kawakubo fame appealed to quite a large number of fashionistas, but this collection was just great, playful, usable and just great! It was simply elegant.
This is the kind of fashion that just makes you want to run out and shop. What recession? When clothes make you feel this good and we all need that kind of excitement right now, it’s a good thing.
As Sarah Mower of Style.com puts it ” And then there was the mesmerizing sight of a zillion accessories. A slew of tribal-art references came in necklaces, earrings, and stacks of bangles, and amazing shoes loaded with sproutings of feathers and plastic collages of abstract African faces. The bags were back in sumptuous array: tactile, poufy shapes glowing with mixed-material suedes and multicolored metallics, python, and leopard spots. Quite brilliant.
Sexy, saucy and elegant all at the time. You have to hand it to Marc Jacobs – He the Man!
