TICKET TO RIDE: It was all abord the Louis Vuitton express, with a Monday night’s show a departure from its usual venue at the Louvre Museum.
Guests were invited to a private cocktail then transported to an office building next to Gare du Nord, where the brand had built an impressive set reminiscent of a train station arrivals lounge for womenswear artistic director Nicolas Ghèsquiere’s fall collection.
The location enhanced the romance of the collection, at least for the train lovers in the crowd. And there were plenty, with Alicia Vikander among them.
She was seated next to Lisa, who caused a commotion with the photographers upon her arrival, flanked by the France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, who is a close friend of Ghèsquiere.
“I love trains. Oh, my god, all the Belmond trains going around Europe, I know all the destinations,” she said of memorizing the map. Some of the routes are long and serious commitment, she said, noting that husband Michael Fassbender isn’t as much of a devotee. So she’s considering an alternate plan.
“Maybe I should just go by myself. There’s something about the idea, I’ll just bring my own book and go from A to B. I love the journey,” she said.
The Oscar winner said that old fashioned travel is a way to put her phone down and check out, and has a nostalgic feel since she grew up travelling by train. She also mused about the presence of tech and AI in our lives, a decade on from her film “Ex Machina.”
Vikander said that she always had an interest in science fiction and when she researched for that film, she met scientists who were on the forefront of AI at that time. “It led me to
realize that this is actually not that far forward, and the general public didn’t have that kind of awareness of it just yet.”
And now? She chats with ChatGPT, particularly recently when she was on a film set and set it to voice mode in her hotel room. “I felt like I had a one-on-one lecture [for character prep]. If you have that view, you can go there. But I do not yet use it on a daily basis. I haven’t really gotten used to it,” she said.
Ana de Armas was in a slinky sequined slip dress topped with a loose silk kimono. The look was carefree and would actually be perfectly comfortable for a train ride, she said.
“I personally love trains. I would go in the train anywhere if I could, really, I’d much rather take a train than flying,” she said. The actress said she fell in love with trains when she was living in Spain.
“I find trains very mysterious, and there’s kind of something cinematic about it. There’s something romantic and something that I really enjoy. I love to watch the scenery pass by, looking out the window at different cities and places. It’s just beautiful,” she said.
De Armas is prepping for the premiere of “Ballerina,” which will come out this summer. In the film she doesn’t actually play a dancer but an assassin, and the training encompassed stunts and martial arts.
“Compared to other action films I’ve done before, that was definitely most intense one, and the most challenging,” she said. “It’s another level. But I got to the point of feeling very comfortable with it, and I think it came out very organic. The hard work paid off.”
Trains were not something of note for Jennifer Connelly, who grew up in the U.S. “The only trains I remember is the subway in New York,” said the Brooklyn native. Still, she has grown and affection for them, and said that husband Paul Bettany had taken the Eurostar from London earlier Monday.
Connelly, a longtime friend of the house and personal pal of Ghèsquiere, was in a cherry red dress from the spring collection. It was complete with big shoulders and a bias-cut hem. She was drawn to the 1980s feel of it and decided to take a risk with the bold color.
Bold could also describe Sophie Turner’s look, though her’s was more urban warrior on a spike button leather dress.
“His stuff always makes me feel so powerful,” she said. But the last time she hit the Louis Vuitton show, she was in a much softer silk pajama look.
“Well, there’s so much in his collections, they’re never one tone. So I always try to wear a different interesting thing from each collection. But there’s never enough events to go to wear all the things that I want to wear, so try to mix it up.”
Surely there are lots of events and premieres for the “Game of Thrones” star? But Turner said that she’s been taking it easy ahead of filming a new project. Word on the street (or IMDB at least) is that she’s prepping for the “Tomb Raider” reboot, but she dodged that question with a series of jokes.
“You can put that together,” she said. In the meantime, maybe she’ll wear the looks to the grocery store or around the house. “If they let me keep them,” she joked.
Chloe Grace-Moretz pulled a look from her archive circa 2018. It was a more moto style with studded sleeves, and testament to Ghèsquiere’s “shapeshifter” design nature from romantic to futuristic.
“Seeing each collection, when you kind of look at in terms of every couple two to three years, he kind of goes through these phases. And I really love this time period, because he really, kind of, it’s almost medieval. These shoulders are almost Joan of Arc,” she said of the design.
The actress is still passionate about motorcycles and is looking forward to a new bike that is about to be delivered in April. It’s just for fun though – racing is off the table.”
“My partner would kill me. That would not go down well,” she said. But the passion she discovered just three years ago has led her into a new phase of research on women bikers.
“I would totally love to do something about the history of women in motorcycles. It’s just not as much of a female sport and there are some really prolific female motorcycle riders that are not as known or obvious, as the men have been.”
Producing a film about these women could be in the cards. “That’s the hope,” she said.
While the brand strived to keep the location secret, plenty of Stays – the fandom name for Stray Kids – turned out to scream for Felix, the K-pop star and Louis Vuitton ambassador who also walked in the show. The K-pop star gamely came out after the show to greet fans and ran up and down to take photos and high five with fans who lined the road to the station.
Still, the journey was over by 9 p.m. when guests were carried home by private cars.
