Louis Vuitton’s Teenage Dream

PARIS — Vogue’s fetish for youth is the Gordian knot at its heart: typically the very era that obsesses about it most is the one least possible to have the ability to afford to put on it.

The fixation has been attributed, variously, to the necessity for brand new concepts and/or seducing future buyers, however on the penultimate day of the autumn season, within the vaulted entry corridor of the Musee d’Orsay, stuffed with Nineteenth-century marbles internet hosting their first vogue present, Nicolas Ghesquière of Louis Vuitton provided a unique clarification.

Adolescence is, he wrote in his present notes, a interval of “inspiring idealism, hope for the longer term, for a greater world.” A interval when the tendency is to imagine you’ll be able to really repair what the era earlier than you screwed up (no less than when you aren’t being overwhelmed by how dangerous it’s, which is the much less romantic and presumably extra real looking interpretation). Nonetheless, not a foul fantasy to be reminded of, proper about now.

Ever since he took the helm of Louis Vuitton’s ladies’s collections again in 2013 Mr. Ghesquière has been time-traveling: by way of centuries, intervals and actions. Why not by way of the ages of man (and girl)? When issues look actually grim, maybe the reply actually is to cherchez le teenager. Or the teenage self.

So Mr. Ghesquière delved into his reminiscence field, remixing bits and items of the latest previous, altering proportions, clashing patterns and messing with historical past in a posh recreation of dress-up and allusion.

There have been oversize suiting jackets paired with trousers in Lurex and brocade and floral neckties. Some shirts had thick velvet scarves connected to their hems to create a peplum, fringed ends brushing the ground. Graphic pinafores in embroidered tweeds got here with massive, squared-off pockets on the sides like panniers, or in silk chiffon, layered over chunky sweatshirts in floral jacquard with images by David Sims of weedy, disaffected ’90s youth, smack within the place of a cameo pin. The images have been additionally sprinkled over attire and large polo shirts, like posters from an previous bed room gone rogue.

On the finish, some floaty embroidered attire appeared below oversize striped rugby shirts or chunky knits. It was as if a child had tunneled into the closets of her elders, tossed the whole lot up within the air and seen the place it landed. The mixtures have been generally awkward and sometimes unusual, however there was nothing classic about them.

“Freedom is all,” Mr. Ghesquière wrote, “with out directive or obstacle.”

Even when the outcomes didn’t look so fascinating, it will be exhausting to argue with that. You discover your liberty the place you’ll be able to.

Or attempt to. Giambattista Valli did it by navigating between the French youthquake of the Sixties and ’70s and the traditional ornamental arts, although his abbreviated minidresses in Aubusson prints, wide-angled flares and mousseline robes appeared principally trapped — not in amber however in his most well-liked rose-tinted lens.

Chitose Abe of Sacai did it through her signature hybrids, reimagining items usually related to utilitarianism and protecting cowl in couture shapes, so tank tops and parachute skirts grew to become sleek, drop-waist attire; bubble puffers have been merged with a trench yoke; bra tops woven into shearling to create an empire line; and bustiers born out of overcoats. Much less chaotic and extra thought of than they’ve generally been prior to now, they nonetheless compelled you to test your assumptions.

And Stella McCartney did it in a collaboration with the 85-year-old artist Frank Stella. (Stella by Stella being, apparently, a little bit of levity neither may resist.)

His oeuvre supplied the inspiration for her assortment, proven on the highest ground of the Centre Pompidou with all of Paris unfold out under and a recording of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 “A Technique of Peace” speech at American College in Washington taking part in as a prelude.

Designers have been borrowing from the artwork world for so long as they’ve been chasing the youth vote, and although the apparent referencing can typically appear lazy or reductive, like the style model of a memento tee, right here it proved impressed, difficult Ms. McCartney to stretch her personal design pondering.

Generally the connection was literal — knitwear pieced collectively alongside the strains of Mr. Stella’s “V-series” of lithographs, his shiny “Spectralia” mélange reproduced on a swingy trouser go well with and jersey costume, the graphic diagonal stripes on chunky faux furs and trouser fits a direct nod to his work. Generally it was extra summary, as within the structured strains of shoulders, billowing sleeves on silk blouses sliced open to (ahem) body the arms and funky cotton denim boilersuits, the type worn by artists in studios, handled to appear to be crushed velvet. Nevertheless it all the time seemed simple.

The knowledge of age, and all that.