At Vuitton, the Louvre is a stage for stars, spectacle and Paris Fashion Week's moving masterpiece

 Screaming fans jammed the gates before the Louvre pyramid, blocking entrances and snarling traffic. They weren't there for the Mona Lisa. They came for Louis Vuitton - and for the front row.

Emma Stone sat with Zendaya, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith, Ana de Armas and Sophie Turner, a casting flex that says as much about Paris Fashion Week today as any silhouette. The runway is no longer the only stage; the front row is the second show, shaping the brand's message in real time.

And in a season of musical chairs - with roughly ten marquee houses unveiling new creative directors this very week - one constant held. Nicolas Ghesquière, who has steered Vuitton's women's line since 2013, didn't flinch or chase a trend. He doubled down on his language.

US actress Emma Stone poses during a photocall. Photos: AFP

Inside gilded salons, with fall light pouring through 17th-century windows once used by Anne of Austria, Ghesquière staged another jump through time. His Spring-Summer 2026 collection fused past and present, with corseted waists, Juliette sleeves, tubular arms, giant silk turbans. Feathered collars mimicked fur, while baggy, sultan-style trousers added an Eastern beat. A striped, ruffled coat winked like Pierrot as a bejeweled gown flashed back at the murals.

"The collection is a celebration of intimacy and the boundless freedom of the private sphere," Ghesquière said - "an exploration of archetypes of genre" and the "ultimate luxury of dressing for oneself." The set, styled as a contemporary apartment inside the Louvre, pushed the idea of private elegance into public spectacle, while Cate Blanchett's reading of David Byrne lyrics kept the mood reflective.

Ghesquière's signatures landed with clarity. Time-travel hybrids: Renaissance echoes clipped to modern attitude. Architecture made light: corsetry that moved, tailoring that floated like flou. Travel as code: an apartment inside a museum for a house built on motion. Surface obsession: feathers, crystals and rich, "changent" washes that blur costume and ready-to-wear. In a week of debuts, his hand was unmistakable.

Context sharpened the stakes. Major labels from Chanel and Balenciaga to Loewe, Dior womenswear and Jean Paul Gaultier are rolling out first collections from newly appointed designers this week in Paris, a reset meant to reignite demand as luxury faces softer spending among top clients in China, fresh U.S. tariff headwinds and broader economic jitters.

Amid all these firsts, Ghesquière answered churn with continuity and nerve.

But familiar critiques surfaced. The storytelling dazzles in scenes rather than as one arc: Pierrot styles, Ottoman trousers and silk turbans landed like vivid chapters, not always a single book. And despite talk of intimacy, little felt everyday. With Ghesquière, concept and embellishment often outrun repeatable wardrobe.

On this sunny Paris day, the Louvre wasn't about one masterpiece on a wall. It was a moving one - Vuitton at full power, arguing that fashion can be both spectacle and a "manifesto of individuality."

Associated Press