On Wednesday night, some 200 guests including clients, celebrities — such as British actress Phoebe Dynevor and Thai actress Urassaya Sperbund — and editors, convened to Château Saint-Maur vineyard near Saint-Tropez for the Louis Vuitton gala.
Photo: Pierre Mouton
It commenced with a show in which models wore high jewellery creations by Francesca Amfitheatrof, the house’s artistic director of jewellery and watches, and outfits by creative director Nicolas Ghesquière’s studio, with styling by Ghesquière’s long-time collaborator Marie-Amélie Sauvé (clients interested in the bespoke dresses can purchase them).
“‘Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds’ sounds a little bit cryptic,” Amfitheatrof told guests before dinner prepared by star chef Jean Imbert, referring to the name of her sixth high jewellery collection for the house. “But it’s an amazing journey of 100 years of French history. The 19th century where there was an explosion of incredible talent because the atelier was set free post-Revolution. The guilts were abolished. There was this enormous growth of the French know-how. Everyone turned to France to come and see this incredible awakening of the hands. The second part, Awakened Minds, is what happened in the second part of the century: the growth of inventiveness in science, engineering, architecture. Paris became the city of lights, the first city in Europe to have gas and electric lights. This is the year [2024] that we celebrate France in every way. It’s where Louis Vuitton came to and started his company and it’s the root of everything we do: savoir faire, discovery, inventiveness and looking into the future.”
Francesca Amfitheatrof surrounded by Urassaya Sperbund, Young-ae Lee, Phoebe Dynevor and Jin Chen at the Louis Vuitton event in Saint-Tropez. Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton generated €22 billion in sales in 2023, according to HSBC estimates. Jewellery is a small part of its overall…
