Editor’s note: This collection was originally presented in March 1998 in Paris and has been digitized as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document historical fashion shows.
In the 1990s many heritage houses got makeovers as fashion increasingly corporatized. The trials and triumphs of John Galliano at Christian Dior and Alexander McQueen at Givenchy, for example, have been well documented. Marc Jacobs also ended up in Paris at a storied maison, but his remit was different. He was tasked with creating something from nothing—a ready-to-wear collection for a leather goods and accessory company which had never had one before. “When Bernard Arnault asked me if I’d do it, it took me just about five seconds to say yes,” Jacobs recalled in a 1998 interview with The Financial Times. “Design is always subjective but quality is objective and that’s what attracted me to Louis Vuitton.”
It so happened that Jacobs’s debut, for fall 1998, coincided with Martin Margiela’s for Hermès. The press dubbed this occasion “The Battle of the Bags.” In so doing they made more noise than either designer, both of whom went in for different variations on simplicity. Jacobs’s collection had an American in Paris vibe. There was almost a Puritanism to his spare shapes and limited palette. “The collection of 50 outfits was so achingly hip, so New York minimal that its impact was severely muted,” wrote The Guardian at the time. “The clothes contain the sort of inverted snobbery that makes a secret society out of status. More shocking than Jacobs’s understated approach was the fact that there was only one bag in the show, and it (like the clothes) had no visible logos. In introducing an entirely new category to Louis Vuitton’s offering, Jacobs was starting at ground zero, and he translated that notion into designs as elemental and clean as the geometry of a trunk, an iconic LV piece that the designer referenced in a statement he contributed to the “Backstage News & Notes” feature that ran in the July 1998 issue of Vogue, which is reprinted below.
“Marc on Vuitton”
“I think people were expecting a lot of monograms. It’s impossible to please everyone, but we started at zero—this was a company that had never done clothing before. The clothes were contemporary, classic, luxurious, a backdrop for a luggage company—utilitarian and practical. Was it too utilitarian for the French? Well, you know, one of the first Louis Vuitton trunks was gray and flat so it would be stackable. It was very practical; I mean, there’s method to all this madness. Also, originally there was no monogram on the outside. Then Vuitton was copied so much he changed it to a stripe. Then a check. Then initials, which, by the way, were inspired by Japanese art in Paris at the time. I’m an expert on all of this now.
Vuitton is a luxury brand—it’s functional, but it’s also a status accessory. I decided status would be done my way, which is to say invisibly. That means the Vuitton logo is embossed on a messenger bag, white on white. For me that’s what status is: It’s absolutely not about another century or about decoration in an obvious way. The idea that everything has to be the same in fashion, that everyone has to follow one trend, that there is one kind of status is wrong. You can’t compare a beaded dress to a simple cotton raincoat.
Also, I don’t think of Louis Vuitton as French necessarily. It’s international. I see Vuitton bags in airports all over the world. You look at Hello! magazine and there’s John McEnroe in a white shirt, jeans, and a raincoat and carrying a Vuitton bag. That is the sexy, glamorous image of what Louis Vuitton should be.”
