Fashion & Beauty

The bold and beautiful looks of Nicolas Ghesquière

The worst kept secret in fashion history is now official: Nicholas Ghesquière (again that’s NEE-coh-la guess-KEE-air) has been named artistic director of womenswear at Louis Vuitton. The French designer replaces Mark Jacobs, who was at the helm for 16 years before leaving earlier this year to focus on his own brand. Before his abrupt exit last November, the 42-year-old designer held the reins at Balenciaga, where he brushed the dust off a storied Parisian house and turned it into a laboratory of cerebral beauty and innovation that inspired many a streetwear knock-off.

While the fashion set fawned over his cutting edge collections for almost the entirety of his 15-year tenure at the brand, Ghesquière also gained a legion of famous CUT[-faced] fans. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Jennifer Connelly were eternal muses, while more recently he helped the likes of Kristen Stewart, Rooney Mara, and Amanda Seyfried top best dressed roundups. Even Beyonce jumped on board, and most of these women arguably never looked better than when suited in one of Ghesquière’s irrepressibly chic designs.

In honor of the monsieur’s appointment at LV, let’s take a look back at some of his biggest, boldest, most Tumblr-worthy moments:

  1. 1. Spring/Summer 2007, Back to the Future

    Fashion1
    Chris Moore/Getty Images; Lester Cohen/WireImage

    “I was thinking of robotic articulation. Car parts. Droids. A boyish silhouette” Ghesquière told Style.com. But we were thinking of the gold-plated leggings from the collection Beyonce debuted at the 2007 BET Awards. Forget the stylist pull: Jay-Z dropped a reported $100,000 on the pair. Holla.

  2. 2. Spring/Summer 2008, Bloomsday

    Fashion2
    Chris Moore/Getty Images; Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

    Perhaps his most iconic collection: structured silk armor decorated in hydrangeas and pansies. It was exemplary of Ghesquière dichotomies — hard yet soft, reverential yet entirely new. His muse Jennifer Connelly not only rocked a full runway look to a Hollywood premiere, she starred in the House’s sleek and sparse ad campaign shot by David Sims.

  3. 3. Spring/Summer 2011, Model Behavior

    Balenciaga - Runway RTW - Spring 2011 Paris Fashion Week
    Chris Moore/Getty Images

    On this runway the casting was as good as the clothes. Amber Valletta, Carolyn Murphy and Stella Tennant all walked — and Gisele Bündchen closed the show. The most curious and buzzed-about inclusion, however, was Miranda Kerr, a smiley, commercial, Victoria’s Secret angel who got edged up to prove she, too, could do high fashion.

  4. 4. Fall/Winter 2012, Graphic Jam

    Fashion4
    Chris Moore/Getty Images; Neil P. Mockford/FilmMagic

    Thank this collection for all those graphic t-shirts and sweatshirts sweeping stores right now. It was the playful slogan shirts (part ’80s band tee, part ’80s video game) that made the loudest statement. Miley Cyrus shouted as well — when she wore a top from the collection in London earlier this year.

  5. 5. Spring/Summer 2013, High Note

    Fashion5
    Chris Moore/Getty Images; Dave M. Benett/WireImage

    One of Ghesquière’s last collections was also one of his most well-received with critics and starlets alike. Boxy minimalism met a flamenco dancer¹s feminine ruffles for the perfect medley of elegance and drama. No wonder Amanda Seyfried donned a dress from the collection to the world premiere of “Les Miserables.”