Louis Vuitton's women's design director Julie de Libran can rattle off the references almost as fast as her boss Marc Jacobs can. For Resort, which she presented in a mini fashion show format at the DIA's old space in Chelsea, she cited Catherine Deneuve in Indochine and La Sirène du Mississippi as inspiration. In both films, Deneuve keeps her French cool—"put-together, elegant, and sensual," de Libran said—despite the stifling heat.
The clothes here hewed more closely to the layered look that Jacobs established at LV's show in March than they did to the style of those films, but the "put-together" idea fits. This was a sweet, feminine collection all about ensemble dressing: a drop-waist printed silk dress worn over matching cropped pants; an elongated vest and flared trousers, both in a red and white dot, paired with a broderie anglaise tunic; a sheared mink the same color of candy pink and brown as the pants and polo sweater it accompanied. Where the Fall collection riffed on the Edwardian era, this had more of a seventies vibe—a decade that's been getting a lot of play with designers this season. Towering straw platforms and wide-brimmed raffia visors accompanied many of the looks. Other outfits were accessorized with crystal tiaras.
If those seemed a tad frivolous, Vuitton is plenty serious about a new made-to-order service. In a salon at the Fifth Avenue flagship, clients can customize their handbag from five silhouettes and many different leathers and linings. There are 40,000-some possible combinations.
