Louis Vuitton’s menswear for this spring/summer is like a trip across Asia. Thanks to the brand’s heritage of travelling, where luggage was their main product, it’s a perfect excuse to tell stories of cultures around the world. In fact, that’s what this spring/summer of menswear is all about — stories across Southeast Asia broken down into different pieces of outerwear. From the birds of paradise of Indonesia, set on top of dusky pinks and sunset-hued silks, to the bold stripes that take their inspiration from Thailand’s Lahu hilltribe, the season’s collection exudes a satiny Asian touch.
Louis Vuitton ss16
Much of the designs are inspired by the recent travels of their men’s style director, Kim Jones. Already having seen how textiles are made in China, Korea and Japan, Jones has taken to new directions by exploring Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in the past few months. Stepping into his post at Louis Vuitton in 2011, this British designer, who was in town to visit Vuitton’s pop-up store at Siam Paragon, is known for turning blankets into outerwear for the mainstream, as well as for his globetrotting background that had him travelling from an early age.
Life chats with the director about his travels in Southeast Asia, the latest collection and why injecting cultures as inspiration is important.
How does travel feed into your work?
I travel all the time because Louis Vuitton is a travelling brand. All the countries and cultures are so different and I find that really exciting. What inspires me is meeting people and seeing techniques of weaving and making things that vary from region to region. Everything I do is involves looking at something. The two things I travel for is to see new cultures and new things and other is wildlife. I love the wildlife, culture and the spirituality of Asia. I thought it would be nice to combine all those things in a collection. It gives you a sense of a man called Albert Kahn, who was a philanthropist in the early 20th century. He was the first one to go to all the cultures of the world and take photos of people in colour and it was a really important documentary journal.
How did using inspiration from Southeast Asia come about?
Kim Jones.
It started with me going off to holiday in Myanmar in summer 2014. Even when I was in Myanmar, looking at wildlife, culture and beautiful temples, I was still looking back to see what I could take back to work with. I have quite a big collection of ethnic costumes now that I didn’t really think I’d be collecting! I went to a hilltribe museum [in Thailand] and saw this amazing traditional clothing from the 50s but it looked like modern sportswear. The hill tribes had very graphic lines and it was very sporty. We wanted it to be luxurious so silk denim was used for light weight in the summer. Silks are very famous in Asia and I just wanted a lot of silk in the collection because I just thought it was really appropriate and right for the collection.
Do you make it a point to visit ethnic museums to look at traditional costumes?
I went to a lot of villages and textile developers and looked at lots of different museums. I start with looking at books and then the internet. But when you do something like Vuitton, to give the customer that extra when they’re spending that much money, I want to give something that’s got authenticity and authenticity is what my whole work is based on really. We went to silk weavers and also the Queen of Thailand’s weavers in Chiang Rai. What we’d like to do in the future is limited edition products using things from local communities. For me, supporting communities and conservation are two things I do in my personal time and inform me for my work, as well.
What are some traditional techniques and details used in this collection?
When I was in Myanmar, I bought a section of fabric with beaded ribbons and really loved it. We did look to make things in Southeast Asia but obviously the quantity and quality was a difficult [to manage] so it’s an ongoing process to achieve that. Coming from Japan, there is Kobe leather. You know Kobe beef is luxurious but the leather is incredibly beautiful and we had it indigo dyed. It’s a really artisanal traditional technique. They have to dry in the sunlight and it has to be dried over a month. The weather has to be perfect too, so it was really complex to do. We didn’t know if we’d get it done in time because the weather was really bad that year.
Why did you choose to feature certain animals in your designs?
Symbolic animals like the crane are considered lucky in some cultures like Japan, China and Korea, but also in Cambodia, where people look at it as quite a spiritual animal. It’s even considered sacred in some others. The black panther is a genetic throwback to one of the leopards that was only in East Africa, West India and mainly in the tropical jungles of Southeast Asia. For me it was very important to put it into the collection. The monkey is there because it’s the Year of the Monkey and this is a Chinese snub-nosed Tonkin monkey. I wanted to celebrate different cultures and I’m not religious, but I like the idea of spirituality and being at one with nature.
How did nature become a main influence in your work?
I grew up in Africa for a lot of my childhood and was very lucky to live in Botswana and Ethiopia, which are two quite remote places with lots of wildlife. I was tiny and you could see thousands of elephants. I wanted to be a zoologist. I just love nature, I don’t know if you remember my first collection for Vuitton with the Masai thing. That was one of the first things I remembered from being a kid — these really tall, super cool looking men wearing these blankets. When I was a kid, you’d have Masai blankets in the house, in the car, when you go out and when we have to eat around the fire, we’d have it wrapped around us. It was always there in my life. It’s just inherently what I do and it’s just something the customer loves as well.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.