Louis Vuitton to dress Annie Leibovitz joining the Académie des Beaux-Arts

Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière has created the outfit Annie Leibovitz will wear when she becomes a member of the Academy of Fine Arts, known as “Les Immortels” in France.
 

One of photography’s greatest portraitists, Leibovitz is known for her ability to capture intimate moments of globally recognized figures with a fresh point of view. For Vuitton campaigns alone she has shot Mikhail Gorbachev, Sean Connery, Keith Richards, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo.
 
In creating this outfit, Ghesquière, Creative Director of the Louis Vuitton Women’s Collections, played with traditional academic design codes, culled from his own Women’s Spring-Summer 2017 collection for Vuitton. Its shapes and inspirations were sourced from the 18th century men’s wardrobe.

High collar and single-breasted, Leibovitz’s black grain power wool jacket is cut at the waist, shorter at the front and lengthened at the back in a tailcoat. The custom-made outfit is composed of a long jacket, cigarette pants and a white poplin shirt with a hand-pleated pussy-bow collar.
 

“It is a true honor to create the academic outfit of Annie Leibovitz, a talented, free and visionary artist, and to pay homage to her photographic work,” said Ghesquière in a release.
 
Entirely made by hand, the gold-colored embroidery takes the shape of olive leaves displayed in symmetry on the collar, on the front of the garment and on the sleeves. The original coat for an Académicien was designed by painter Jean Louis David in 1801, in black wool embroidered with olive branches and golden thread.
 
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is one of five academies within the Institut de France, a French learned society recognizing excellence in thought, science, literature, music and art, which was founded by National Convention in 1795.
 
Leibovitz will be presented on March 20 with her academic sword by Anna Wintour, Global Editorial Director of Vogue. Annie fills the seat previously held by I.M. Pei, the American architect of the glass pyramid of Carrousel du Louvre.