Monaco’s royal family must have been elated to shrug off that Grace of Monaco fiasco and welcome Louis Vuitton’s cruise show to its tiny principality less than an hour’s drive from Cannes. In fact the collection was held in a specially built glass box in front of the Prince’s Palace, under the patronage of Princess Charlene and with the royal family in attendance.

If there was harmony in the monarchy, Nicolas Ghesquière’s outing for Vuitton, his second collection for the house since departing Balenciaga, struck plenty of discordant notes. Reminiscent of Prada’s embrace of all things outmoded, Ghesquière sought a certain contretemps between the elements. Colors clashed, shapes sparred, fabrics faced off — yet most signs pointed to a seventies vibe. The motifs, too, were not entirely in agreement; the forced pairing of an amorphous aquatic theme, a checkered racecar graphic à la Monte Carlo, and the house’s luggage heritage — with its right angles and stiff materials — may not make much sense now, but that is the point. They will make sense soon enough. That is what Ghesquière does.