Kim Jones Brings Light to Paris

PARIS, France — Paris is often called the City of Light, but a shadow fell over it in December. The show is always the first thing Kim Jones thinks about. He'd been planning his new men's presentation for Louis Vuitton since at least last May, which means the set of his latest presentation was sheer coincidence. Still, it's hard not to be seduced by the idea that the light-filled cloud that will undulate above his catwalk as the sun sets around 5.30 today isn't some kind of deliberately uplifting antidote to December's darkness. Jones always intended his latest collection to be a celebration of Paris. It just became something transcendent.

The cloud, an extraordinary and unlikely froth of stainless steel, is the creation of Japanese artist Ohmaki Shinji. Jones originally encountered his work at the MORI Art Museum in Tokyo. It was sunset, which is clearly the right time of day to appreciate the way the artist captures light and air in his nebulous creations. “I was already thinking about the grand scheme of the collection, about the love that Paris has for modernism,” says Jones. “I wanted to do something light and simple. And I knew a lot of other designers were aware of Ohmaki Shinju, so I knew I had to use him first.” The deciding factor was a night Jones spent back in London at a dance performance by his friend Michael Clark. The electronic soundtrack, by Bruce Gilbert of the art/punk band Wire, was the clincher for him. That will the music on which Shinji-san’s cloud will rise and fall.

A full appreciation of the artist’s work clearly called for a shift from Vuitton’s usual 2.30pm time-slot, impinging on the delicate chemistry of the Chambre Syndicale’s fashion calendar. That required some diplomatic negotiations with Dries van Noten, the fashion house most likely to be affected by Vuitton’s move. “I didn’t want to look like one of those bullying big houses,” Jones insists. “So we worked to resolve model issues as quickly as possible, to be as helpful as possible to each other. But it was so important to get the light — and the space — right.”

Jones felt it was also important to at least match — and hopefully outdo — the impact of his graphic Spring collection, the one that paid tribute to London designer Christopher Nemeth. “The challenge is always to do something new,” he says. So, against the Shinju set, he is also presenting a new LV pattern, the all-black Monogram Eclipse. It will mark Jones’s fifth anniversary with Vuitton, so it’s appropriate that the Eclipse already looks like a classic.

But it’s the spectacle of Ohmaki Shinju’s creation that will ensure this particular show’s memorability. It seems subtly in tune with the way the biggest fashion houses have been raising the bar time and again with their extravaganzas in far-off lands. Jones denies he's a part of that trend. “That’s womenswear,” he counters. “I wanted to acknowledge how inspiring young Paris has become. At the same time, I feel privileged to be able to do what I want to do and to make it as beautiful as I can.” Come sunset today, there’ll be hundreds who are grateful for his sense of privilege.

Disclosure: LVMH is part of a consortium of investors which has a minority stake in The Business of Fashion.