- 1971 (MCMLXXI)
- Living
- French
- Balenciaga (1997–2012), Louis Vuitton (2013–)
- •Balenciaga’s 1997–2012 revival
- •The City bag
- •Louis Vuitton womenswear
- •Futurist shapes with historical references
Nicolas Ghesquière
The Loudun-born designer who took over a nearly-closed Balenciaga at twenty-six, rebuilt it in fifteen years, and has run Louis Vuitton womenswear since 2013.
Nicolas Ghesquière was born in 1971 in Comines, France, and raised in Loudun. He had no formal fashion education. He interned at Agnès b. at fourteen and apprenticed at Jean Paul Gaultier. He was hired at Balenciaga in 1995 as a licensing designer, and in November 1997 was promoted to creative director after the existing director abruptly departed. He was twenty-six. The house was on the verge of closing.
The Revival
Ghesquière’s fifteen-year tenure is regarded as one of the great house-revivals of the post-war era. He treated Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1950s archive as a structural library, re-engineering its silhouettes through futurist fabrics, athletic references, and architectural tailoring. Kering bought the house in 2001 on the strength of his collections. Collectors speak of his Balenciaga in terms — Lariat, motocross, 2006 robots — that remain unambiguous in the specialist press.
Fashion is the archive, plus the moment. — Nicolas Ghesquière
Louis Vuitton
In November 2013 LVMH named him creative director of Louis Vuitton womenswear. His Vuitton — less archive-driven because the house’s archive is leather-goods rather than couture — has produced, across eleven years, a distinctive assemblage of sci-fi utility, 1970s tailoring, and Blade Runner cyberpunk. His contract was extended in 2024.
