That said, it was also designed with women in mind. “I was briefed to do a men’s collection, but I felt like having to differentiate collections by gender feels a little old-fashioned. This collection has a scale and a size element to it that is considered men but at the same time, it’s also made for women. I’m going to wear it for sure,” says Amfitheatrof, who was also behind the launch of LV Volt, the brand’s successful unisex line of fine jewellery, in 2020.
A men’s collection lends itself to experimenting with materials, Amfitheatrof explains: “Titanium is used in aerospace and has this ability of being a tough, dense metal and therefore, when we laser cut into it, it feels really crisp. When we laser cut the monogram into it, it feels really modern.”
The brand signifiers — whether the monogram or the trunk — are ubiquitous in the collection. “Those elements are part of our history and we adapt them in an interesting way. It’s not just taking the logo, boom, and putting it on. We play with it.”
The world’s largest luxury brand is already present in a dizzying number of categories, including furniture and chocolate. Getting into men’s jewelery feels like a natural move. “We have quite a lot of men buying high jewelery already. I think we will add to this collection,” Amfitheatrof says.
“Louis Vuitton has the relevance, firepower and long-term approach to boost the interest of consumers for a nascent product category like men’s jewellery,” said Mario Ortelli, managing director of luxury strategy advisory Ortelli and Co. “I believe that in the long run, luxury men’s jewelery can become quite a sizeable business (even if much smaller than women’s), potentially with a share of branded jewelery (versus unbranded) higher than in women’s jewellery. In men’s jewellery, soft luxury brands like Louis Vuitton can experiment more in the use of new materials, and they can also be as relevant as hard luxury brands that have jewelery in their DNA from inception.”
Les Gastons Vuitton is available in a selected number of Louis Vuitton stores worldwide and displayed, depending on the location, on the men’s floor or on the accessory floor.
The launch follows the in-store arrival of the first collection by Pharrell Williams, the Louis Vuitton men’s creative director. Amfitheatrof started working on the collection before Williams joined, yet admits that the dates aligned nicely. “I think it’s great that it launched [at the same time as] Pharrell’s first collection in stores. It’s a collection that unites a little bit of what we’re doing in womenswear as well as what we’re doing in menswear. It feels very fresh.”
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