Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquiere is redefining Louis Vuitton for the millennial digital age. In an exciting reveal for the Louis Vuitton spring and summer 2016 ad campaign the high-end french fashion house has collaborated with Japanese video game developer Square Enix to feature Lady Lightning, a beloved heroine from the wildly successful RPG video game series Final Fantasy 13 as the new “digital face” for the Series 4 collection.
Final Fantasy is no stranger to the runway and has been noted for its unique fashion sense in the past. In fact, Lightning and her Final Fantasy 13 co-stars were featured in a Prada menswear campaign in 2012.
Images of Lightning first surfaced on the Instagram account of Nicolas Ghesquiere in which he confirmed that Louis Vuitton was working with Final Fantasy designer Tetsuya Nomura on the collaboration for its spring and summer 2016 campaign.
”We’re all confronted by the digital world in a good way and we’re influenced by cyber, influenced by the images that make us a dream or judge,” said Ghesquière of the collection. ”But at the same time we have this real life. And were all managing to have this real dimension. And thats exciting. Its a real reality influenced by the virtual world.”
“I was thinking about this digital frontier, which I wanted to combine in harmony with the world of Louis Vuitton the craft, the wardrobe,” says Ghesquière. “Its an evocation of cyber, of what comes from digital these characters or girls that are speaking to their generation.”
Ghesquière has a well known preoccupation with digital technology. The Spring and Summer 2016 fashion show was peppered with references to virtual reality, a soundtrack provided by Minecraft (also a successful video game), Japanese anime, and even Wong Kar-Wai’s sci-fi flick 2046. The muse for this digital dystopia? None other than pink haired, punk rock beauty, Fernanda Ly.
The fashion industry appears to be having a love affair with all things digital. The past year witnessed the rise of the virtual fashion show and even more tellingly, the theme of the upcoming 2016 Met Gala is “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” To no ones surprise, Nicolas Ghesquiere is set to be honorary chairman of the event.
The Louis Vuitton Spring and Summer 2016 Campaign is on view now in Louis Vuitton boutiques worldwide.
