Kick Start

In these uncertain times, louis vuitton’s artistic director nicolas ghesquière is looking to the past to help make sense of the future

- Grace O'neill

Over the past few decades, designer Nicolas Ghesquière has built a reputation as being a man with an uncanny ability to intuit what women want before they even know they want it. It’s a skill that has defined his seven-year tenure at Louis Vuitton, where his designs pay homage to bygone eras (anything from the 1800s to the 1980s goes) while still being firmly focused on the future, courtesy of ultramodern silhouettes and space-age styling. It’s a happy marriage, one that has helped establish the 49-year-old Frenchman as one of the industry’s most influential names.

Science fiction, space travel and virtual reality are all subjects that fascinate Ghesquière. His love of Star Wars and Stanley Kubrick’s space-age epic