"At Vuitton we're always so focused on our future that I don't really look at our past work," she told us at the launch, hosted by Prosper Assouline who published the book. "We're like, 'Okay, next project!' It was fun to sit down with Prospero as he was editing all of our work. I'm so critical - I was like, 'I don't think this one is very good,' and he was like, 'Are you joking? This one is amazing!'"
McLeod's enthusiasm for translating the brand's stimulus at any given time into something that is going to make people stop and stare in the street stems from her passion for making fashion democratic and giving everybody a taste of the magic that happens at Fashion Week.
"For me, you go to the shows and there's such an amazing creative spirit but it's for an elite amount of people. Our windows are for everybody," she smiled. "I think if you're going to do amazing shows like that you should be bringing it to the people and building a language of it, which is what we try to do. I don't ever want to do it first degree - I'll never just take a show, I'll always try to work out a way of making it right for the space."
Highlights include working with Yayoi Kusama, who allowed McLeod's team to put her face in silicone with straws up her nose and cast her hands in pots of gel to make a life-size model of the artist (currently on display at Assouline's Piccadilly flagship), the fruits of which are documented in the book. Prior to Louis Vuitton, McLeod cut her teeth working in window design for Selfridges, Liberty and Topshop before heading to New York where she learnt "how to quantify business with creative". Now, alongside senior designer Ansel Thompson, she has made the Louis Vuitton window displays among the most talked-about in the world - which is what brought Assouline knocking at her door.
"I kept noticing, for the last few years, this huge Vuitton store on 57th street in New York and I saw these windows changing every two to three weeks. I thought it was just unbelievable, I was really impressed," Assouline told us. "I was really intrigued and wanted to know who was this person who created it. I met with Faye, and I was in love with this girl. She was so nice. When I went to her office it was so organised, full of ideas, she was inspiring - and her favourite book is the book that I made on the windows of Bergdorf Goodman!"
McLeod admits that she "never, never, never" thought she would have an Assouline book dedicated to her work - the success of which she credits to maintaining the perfect balance of consistency, innovation and adaptation.
"Since 2009, my job hasn't really changed," she told us of her time at the house, which has spanned the creative directorships of Ghesquiere and his predecessor Marc Jacobs. "My job is to take the artistic director's vision with the CEO's strategy and to make stories out of it. I'm there to translate what that is. Vuitton changes so much, but it always maintains its code. If you look at the book it's six years of work and you can see all the stories we've told, but there is a constant thread."
The process of publishing the book also presented McLeod with the opportunity to spread the word about her side of the fashion world - the behind-the-scenes jobs that many don't realise are viable career options. "For me it's really important that people know these jobs exist - it's not always just about a stylist or a designer. I want to inspire people to want my job!"
Safe to say her mission will be accomplished as Louis Vuitton Windows flies off the shelves.
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