Getting Theatrical In Avignon

AVIGNON, France — All the world's a stage, William Shakespeare once wrote. Now Nicolas Ghesquière has proposed a bevy of exuberant clothes for it.

His latest cruise collection for Louis Vuitton is a hit — lavishly embellished, spunky in spirit and theatrical to the right degree. While flamboyant, it deftly skirted the "costume-y" admonishment that sometimes befalls designers.

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Vuitton and Ghesquière brought the fashion pack to Avignon and its world-famous Palais des Papes, whose imposing Gothic architecture heightened the "Excalibur" vibes of the collection, which spanned from busy medieval tunics and jaunty capes to soft Joan of Arc dresses in metallic jersey.

"It looks at history, but it's not historical," Ghesquière said of the collection during a preview on Thursday, rattling off a host of references that spanned all the way from Arthurian times to a swath of glam-rock royalty, from David Bowie to the Haim sisters, two of whom attended Thursday night's golden-hour show.

A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Palais des Papes has been a key venue for the city's annual theater festival since 1947, when French director and actor Jean Vilar began staging performances in the vast courtyard of the historic monument.

Now Vuitton becomes the first fashion house to stage a runway show at the landmark, which hosted the papacy for 70 years until 1377, when it returned to Rome.

Es Devlin created a striking set of tiered, red velvet theater seats left empty, placing the audience where the stage would usually be placed for the summer festival program.

Cate Blanchett, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, Catherine Deneuve, Alicia Vikander and Stacy Martin — many in the south of France for the Cannes Film Festival — were among celebrities in the front row who watched Julia Nobis stroll out in a visually scrambled knight's uniform, cuing up an array of blurred references to medieval times, and the performing arts.

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