Haute Concept

So earlier this week, Louis Vuitton invited us to a presentation of the 2008 Fall-Winter Men’s Pre-Collection at the Norwood on West 14th St. It gave us a chance to see the products up close and personal as well as chat with Louis Vuitton menswear designer Paul Helbers.

The pre-collection pretty much sticks to the same bank robber aesthetic of the Louis Vuitton runway collection presented back in January. But the opportunity to see the details of the clothing was the good part. With menswear, the devil is in the details. It is the details which set a $200 suit apart from a $2,000 suit. Two suits may look reasonably similar at first glance, but closer examination of the details reveal the (important!) differences. The attention to detail is the hallmark of great sartorial work.

And a close examination of the Louis Vuitton collection did not disappoint. First of all, all of the button holes were functional, from the sleeves to the lapel. Check one! We can’t express how much it annoys us of when buttonholes are not functional. It almost pisses us off as much as people who say, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too!” What’s the point of having cake if you can’t eat it, and what’s the point of having buttonholes if they don’t function!  And NO! We don’t just want to look at it!

Moving on.

The inside of the suits are well constructed with a variety of pockets that were clean and useful for the array of materials a modern man has to carry from business cards to iPhones. Paul Helbers obviously knows what he’s doing and likes to get down to the nitty gritty details of menswear such as pocketholes.

When two live models came out wearing L.V. suits we could really see how well constructed and sleek the suits are. The suits have a distinct European cut which may alienate some American men who prefer the boxy, unflattering shape of some American suits. Let those guys have Hickey Freeman, we’ll take Louis.

The next point is one near and dear to our hearts.

Two words: Shawl. Collars.

They were neatly incorporated into items ranging from tuxedo jackets and to comfy sweaters. Any advice we could give would be to have more.

Of course the highlight from the runway collection and this pre-collection are the Damier Graphite print bags. L.V. had a variety of bags set out which look great up close.

If you recall from the runway show in January, some bags had white handles which had us scratching our head about the practicality issues of hand sweat, the color white, dirt and grime. Not a good combination. Fortunately this must have been well thought out because there seems to be two solutions. Buy a pair of Louis gloves (probably what the company is hoping for) or remove them. Yes…they simply zipper off to reveal black leather handles underneath. Hmmm…details indeed.

Now the great thing about the Damier Graphite print is that Louis Vuitton is incorporating it throughout the collection. Not just bags but shoes, scarves, ties, sunglasses and iPhone cases! We’ll be bring you more insight into their Graphite collection next week.