The Louis Vuitton House embraces the Japanese powerful civilization with the point of view of its French culture. The Miho Museum operates as a transmutation of the Louis Vuitton House that carries through the world the French way of life. In other hand Japan, an island territory that relies on the profound respect for nature. This museum symbolizes the conjunction between extreme modernity in a surrounding nature. I.M. Pei, designed this building as a representation of Shangri-la, a legendary terrestrial paradise in a secret valley of the Himalayas. This fusion of the urban and the organic so popular in Japan is the main inspiration for the Cruise 2018 collection.
The collection shows the blend of the actual world and the ancestral civilization, of the great cities and the delicacy of the landscapes. The references appear literally and is a way of showing respect to the culture; the clothing have similarities to the samurai’s vestment, figurative prints, landscapes engraved in ink, ceremonial costumes, inspired in Kurosowa films and Kitano. Sweaters made by jerseys and leather that have an interlaced pattern recall the uniforms of the Japanese warriors. The color chose for the dresses is gold signature color of the theater. The fragile work of the obi belts are the main accessory of the pants. The bags and pockets have more playful designs like the Kabuki masks.
This cruise collection also wants to pay tribute to the creator Kansaï Yamamoto, who opened the way for a whole generation of Japanese designers to come and present in France. He was one of the first Japanese designers to have an own fashion show in Paris and is also known to have created most of David Bowie’s costumes. He visited the Miho Museum and was inspired by the integration of the modern building into the landscape, and the harmonization of I.M. Pei between architecture and nature. He was interested in making a collection that fuses a traditional Japan with a modern Paris. The collection is in a way the Japan he has longed.
