Creating something timeless

When French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere presented his first ready-to-wear collection Series 1 for Louis Vuitton at the Cour Carree du Louvre in Paris in March, each of the 1,200 guests at the show were given a letter from the designer.

"Today is a new day, a big day," Ghesquiere says in the letter. "You are about to witness my first show for Louis Vuitton. Words cannot express exactly how I am feeling at this moment ... above all, immense joy at being here, in the knowledge that my stylistic expression is at one with the Louis Vuitton philosophy, the proud legacy, the inspiring history that looks to the future and to the world."

Now, Louis Vuitton is running an exhibition of the show in Shanghai. It is being presented in a three-story former cinema-cum-theater designed by Hungarian architect Ladislaus E. Huaec (1893-1958).