Louis Vuitton Opens Its Spring 2021 Show With an Important Message: Vote

“I enjoy the fact that now we can go straight to the point,” says Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière, who had the role of being the final exclamation point of an abridged, mostly digital Paris Fashion Week. Unlike his fellow Parisians, though, Ghesquière did not go digital—well, not in the traditional sense. Within Paris’s grand department store La Samaritaine, owned and under renovation by LVMH, Ghesquière fused virtual and physical elements in a live show for just under 200 guests. The show was livestreamed to the public with clips from classic cinema overlaid on the green screens that lined the store’s hallways; for the fashion press, there was a private link that simulated a front row seat, complete with some juicy (and unexpected!) fashion gossip. But the real surprise was the opening look worn by model Emily Danielle: a knit sweater that read “Vote.”

The message is one we’ve been hearing a lot in the United States, with fashion initiatives like Fashion Our Future 2020 and Believe in Better partnering with designers to create voting merch. At Christian Siriano, a ball gown covered in the word vote walked his poolside runway—and then ended up on Julianne Moore. As for Ghesquière, he told Sarah Mower before his show: “Today, there is no question—you have to do the right thing, and that one thing has to have the right balance of being impactful and practical. Instead of making 10 things, you make one.” And the one key look of the season is LV’s Vote shirt. The only downside? It won’t be available in time to wear to the polls on November 3—or sooner, if you’re filling out an absentee ballot. Consider it all the more reason to DIY your own with some spray paint and a vintage tee.