“THEY’RE VERY NICE, inspiring weirdos.” That’s how Louis Vuitton women’s artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière describes his fashion-industry peers. Growing up in France’s relatively remote Loire Valley, Mr. Ghesquière, 51, dreamed of being one such weirdo. He’d watch fashion programs on TV, special-order magazines with his mother and customize friends’ clothes. “As a kid [fashion] was my way of expressing myself,” recalled the Paris-based designer. Since 2013, he’s been at Vuitton, whose new spring 2023 collection was shown in Paris earlier this month at the Louvre Museum’s Cour Carrée.

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