NICOLAS GHESQUIÈRE

NICOLAS GHESQUIÈRE IS, BY NOW, USED TO GOING LAST. After all, for the past five years, his collection has served as the grand finale of “Fashion Week,” an epic journey which really consists of a multi-city tour spanning New York, London, Milan, and Paris, and clocks in at a little over a month’s worth of runways, presentations, “re-sees,” and appointments. The trouble with going last, of course, is that the attendees—many of whom by now have witnessed 150 or more shows—are travel-weary, and think they’ve surely seen it all.

That was the case in October, until they were ushered past the famous glass pyramid at the Louvre Museum and into an expansive courtyard. There, they entered a large box made of pine, and promptly found their seats. The best way to describe the size of the venue is, perhaps a bit ironically, in sports terms: it was about as large as a basketball stadium.

After the camera flashes finished their final dance among the Vuitton spokeswomen—the front row attendees included Catherine Deneuve, Laura Harrier, and ’s Indya Moore—the lights in the space faded to100 alumna, Sophie—who began to move rhythmically and solemnly to an extended version of her song, “It’s Okay to Cry.”