subscribe to show notes Newsletter for on-the-ground intel from Fashion Week and the wider world of men’s fashion.
The proverbial exchange of enjoying the beach is simple: You sit in the scorching sun for as long as you can stand it, and then you reward yourself with a dip in the cool, soothing water. Rinse and repeat as much as your heart desires.
on tuesday, France’s hottest day on recordI had the somewhat harrowing experience of going to the beach and not being able to take a refreshing dip. That’s because the beach in question was actually a simulation created on a college campus in Paris, which was the site of Pharrell’s latest Louis Vuitton runway show. Indeed, on a lush lawn at the Cité Internationale Universitaire, Team LV built a giant tan box and filled it with seats, sand, and a striking, cascading wall that looks like a tidal wave. Approximately the size of an IMAX screen, real water came out of the wall and emitted a fine mist, which then settled into the sand at the edge of the room. waiter Skimmed off the resulting seafoam.. On a 100-degree day, it felt like a mirage.
Stéphane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images
(Especially in the Farrell era, the LV team is no stranger to building bottomless sets. For P’s first season, they shut down the Pont Neuf; last summer, they built a plaza-sized snakes and ladders board on the grounds of the soon-to-be-renovated Center Pompidou.)
I didn’t dip my toes into the Louis Vuitton ocean, but as I stood near it, I thought of all the Parisians who had been there. relief from heat stroke Jumping into the previously prohibited waters of the Canal Saint-Martin, a practice now tolerated after recent mayor approval. (Since I arrived in the City of Light a few days ago, I’ve watched hundreds of local kids do prefrontal-cortex-defying flips into the canal from its various pedestrian bridges. Girly!) So it was fitting that, at the show, one Parisian was brave enough to wade into the water: Carine Roitfeld. took off her heels And put her feet inside.
