Few could argue with the thrilling impact of the setting. Nicolas Ghesquière, as much of an architecture nut as he is a fashion creator, chose the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói as his backdrop. A Tracy Island-style white saucer conceived by Oscar Niemeyer and perched dramatically on an outcrop overlooking Guanamara Bay, it proved a worthy context in which to show a Cruise collection inspired by "Brazilian idealism" (no pun intended).
"In Rio de Janeiro, what I saw most of all was movement and an explosive energy that lives somewhere between modernism and tropicality," said Ghesquière. Enter the #LVGIRLS, dressed in graphic prints and super-athletic cuts, surging down the dramatic red ribbon of runway that spirals out of the museum in what must surely be the most aesthetically pleasing enactment of the "Take me to your leader" spiel.
Brazilians are famed for their love of body-conscious clothing, and Ghesquière threw off his habitual stiff modernism to embrace curves and cut-outs. Neoprene high-necked zipped tops and mini dresses peeled away from the body at the bottom, folded to resemble wetsuits whose arms had been left to trail at the waist, with Vuitton-branded tags that looked like surfing leashes. Next came brightly-coloured tent-like cagoules and capes, covered in enough zips, ruching and drawstrings to keep patrons of Milletts happy.
Playing to the home crowd, t-shirts and dresses came with whimsical prints of Pelé doing keepie-uppies. In a final, more recognisably Parisian rather than Carioca phase. a series of black cropped neoprene jackets and bubble-like leather bombers worn with billowing white shirts and skinny flared trousers.
Brazilians are famed for their love of body-conscious clothing, and Ghesquière threw off his habitual stiff modernism to embrace curves and cut-outs. Neoprene high-necked zipped tops and mini dresses peeled away from the body at the bottom, folded to resemble wetsuits whose arms had been left to trail at the waist, with Vuitton-branded tags that looked like surfing leashes. Next came brightly-coloured tent-like cagoules and capes, covered in enough zips, ruching and drawstrings to keep patrons of Milletts happy.
Playing to the home crowd, t-shirts and dresses came with whimsical prints of Pelé doing keepie-uppies. In a final, more recognisably Parisian rather than Carioca phase. a series of black cropped neoprene jackets and bubble-like leather bombers worn with billowing white shirts and skinny flared trousers.
What of the accessories? LV girls will be buzzing over the boombox bag - which, thrillingly, actually plays music via Bluetooth technology - and the flip-flop hybrid shoes, another nod to Brazil, from whom the Havaiana is the national footwear. So too the skinny sequinned scarves, worn with strapless leather mini dresses in a way that somehow felt sci-fi rather than bohemian. Ghesquière's gift is to make even the most feminine of trends - ruffles, tassles, body-con - look edgy. Here, he made Brazil feel exhilaratingly cutting edge. Let the Games begin.
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