We’ve been in clandestine hotel situations with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton before. Remember that AW 11 Night Porter collection descending and ascending in Claridges-style escalators? Now we have a hotel room destination to go to. Fifty rooms no less, as an intimate hotel setting was laid out before us in a mysterious looking circular corridor, complete with sumptuous blue flocked wallpaper. From each door would emerge a woman, somewhat broken or deliriously drunk with her hacked up jet-black coiffure and smoky, just-got-out-of-bed-and-cried smoky eyes. Behind each door would be a black and white projection of a man getting dressed or a rumpled unmade bed, supported by Louis Vuitton’s trunks, from their heritage of travel. We were voyeurs into these supposedly private moments that are in this day and age constantly on show. These women’s vulnerable state would be protected though by the delicate and deeply intimate clothes that summed up this season’s desire for tactile layers of protection. A floral embroidered coat slash dressing gown in dove grey was concealing an emotional wound or two. A mannish checked coat flung over a satin slip dress looked like heartbreak attire. Bias cut velvet dresses cut with a deep V in the front were seductive but not aggressively so. Bags evoked pastel powder puffs.  Florals fading into mohair, menswear fabrics edged with Chantilly lace, sequins spreading up into masculine check, men’s pyjama paisleys leading to decadent ostrich feathers were again neat summations of the engendered fabric and textural contrasts that we have seen this season.

The nuanced palette was heartfelt, something that would touch the deepest longings and regrets in all of us. When Kate Moss emerged out of the final door in a smoke grey sheer dress embroidered with florals, we were wondering what secrets lied beneath her demure expression. Even Marc Jacobs was running with the thought that “staying in is the new going out.” He emerged in Diana Vreeland’s wallpaper printed pyjamas made in collaboration with the Chapman brothers, from the Louis Vuitton AW 13 menswear collection. We were all ready to get into our jim jams and go behind closed doors at that point. 

www.louisvuitton.com

Models pictured: Hedvig Palm-@hedvig_palm, Daphne Groeneveld-@daphgroeneveld, Sam Rollinson- @SamRollinson, Anais Pouliot-@Anais_Pouliot, Karlina Caune-@kkkarlie, Tati Cotliar-@tatianacotliar, Shu Pei Qin-@shupeiq, Nicole Pollard-@LalaLuxe, Daria Strokous-@DariaStrokous, Kate Moss-@MossKate, Bregje Heinen-@HeinenBregje, Isabeli Fontana-@IsabeliFontana1, Drake Burnette-@DrakeBurnette