Time travelers in barcelona

One model comes walking down the Hypostyle Room of Park Güell looking at once from the future yet straight from the 1980s of Nicolas Ghesquière’s youth, swaggering in a sailor’s traditional vareuse with broad shoulders for Louis Vuitton’s Women’s Cruise 2025 collection.

Ghesquière, celebrating a decade at the brand, is in a Barcelona state of mind. LV is the main sponsor of the upcoming America’s Cup. But he isn’t giving us the usual flamenco ruffles and striped shirts.

In between we are taken across decades of cowboy fashion as Ghesquière proposed glossy riding boots and jodhpurs with deep faux fur cuffs, and riffed on polka dots and ruffles. A deconstructed white lace skirt is reconstructed with wire hooks in the style, all inspired by the fashion shown in legendary filmmaker Luis Bunuel’s work, notably The Young One.

Then come muses from centuries past in draped bubble skirts and dresses, skirts and trousers; their chiaroscuro folds of silk appear straight out of paintings by masters Velazquez, Goya and Zurburan.

True to the designer’s process-oriented approach and preference for worked surfaces, he creates the future with experimentations on silk and wool dresses; this time dunked in boiling water, shrinking just the wool. Just like Gaudi himself, it’s an inventiveness that stands the test of time.

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In the Philippines, Louis Vuitton is in Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati; The Shoppes, Solaire Resort; and Nustar Resort and Casino, Cebu South Road Properties.