After graduating from high school at age 18, Ghesquière turned down a place at art school to work as an assistant to designer
Jean-Paul Gaultier from 1990 to 1992. He went on to work at Pôles, designing its knitwear line followed by a series of inauspicious assignments with different companies. He was considered the unofficial designer for the Italian house of Callaghan.
Balenciaga Through his contacts with Marie-Amélie Sauvé and Nathalie Marrec, Ghesquière eventually landed a job doing the licensing for Paris fashion house
Balenciaga and designing for the Asian market. At that time, Balenciaga had limited success since the 1970s and was owned by Groupe Jacques Bogart, whose management realized Ghesquière's talent when he designed a small collection for one of its Japanese licensees. (The label's founder,
Cristóbal Balenciaga, died in 1972.) Ghesquière held, as he then described it, "what many would call the worst position in fashion," designing suits and funeral clothes under a Balenciaga licence for Japan. In 1997, at the young age of 25, Ghesquière was the surprise choice to head Balenciaga, Following his appointment, he had less than four months to design the spring-summer 1998 collection from scratch. While working as the label's creative director, Ghesquière continued to design two Italian collections —
Trussardi, then Callaghan — until 2001. In 2002, Ghesquière was embroiled in controversy when he was accused of plagiarizing from a deceased designer. Ghesquière was forced to admit that he had copied a patchwork vest from San Francisco designer
Kaisik Wong — who died in 1990 — for the Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2002 collection. The design by Wong appeared in a 1974 reference book,
Native Funk & Flash. At Balenciaga, Ghesquière soon became known for his sense of contrast, such as pairing high-waisted skinny pants with a voluminous
blouson or a tightly cut wool jumpsuit with billowing sleeves. His work soon turned Balenciaga into a critically acclaimed fashion house. with braided handles and dangling zipper pulls. An aspect of the designer's devotion to the house's legacy was his respect for Cristóbal Balenciaga's original design concepts. However, even though the Balenciaga archives are stored in Ghesquière's
atelier, he was only able to gain entry to the locked room by special appointment with an off-site custodian. Throughout his time at Balenciaga, Ghesquière continuously collaborated with the same artists, particularly French artist
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster – who worked with Ghesquière on the design of every Balenciaga boutique – and stylist Marie-Amélie Sauvé. He has additionally cited actress
Charlotte Gainsbourg as an influence during his time at the company. At the same time, he launched the careers of several models, including
Kirstin Liljegren. Ghesquière's lariat bag is now considered a modern classic. The
Gucci Group (PPR) bought Balenciaga in 2001. Ghesquière, who wanted to stay and expand Balenciaga, could only be bought through the house. "It is a happy relationship," Ghesquière said. "It has worked because they wanted me to explain what I wanted to do with Balenciaga, not the other way around." Ghesquière's collections have had a considerable commercial impact, particularly through his influence on other designers, including his former staff members
Julien Dossena, Camille Miceli, and
Natacha Ramsay-Levi. During that time, he assembled one of the largest production teams in Paris with upwards of 30 people in the design studio and 50 in the fabrication ateliers. A painful legal dispute for Nicolas Ghesquière ensued. On November 23, 2022, Nicolas Ghesquière gave the explanation during the scandal of the advertising campaign of children posing in a BDSM scene, "
When I left @kering in 2012 I felt disconnected and hurt by [their] values and dishonesty".
Louis Vuitton On 4 November 2013, Ghesquière officially replaced
Marc Jacobs at
Louis Vuitton as creative director for the women's collections. Some of his first designs for Louis Vuitton debuted on the red carpet, as worn by the actress
Jennifer Connelly. On 5 March 2014, Ghesquière had his first show under the LV brand. LVMH renewed Ghesquière’s contract as artistic director of the women's collections in 2018 and 2022. Since joining Louis Vuiton, Ghesquière has regularly showcased his designs with shows in architectural landmarks including the
Louvre in Paris – it was the first time the museum had allowed a fashion house to stage a show there –; Monaco's Palace Square (2014);
Hope Residence in
Palm Springs (2015); the
Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro (2016); the
Miho Museum near Kyoto (2017);
Fondation Maeght in
Saint-Paul de Vence (2018); and the
TWA Flight Center (2019). On May 22, 2025, Nicolas Ghesquière presented Louis Vuitton's Cruise 2026 collection at the Palais des Papes in Avignon Actress
Emma Stone is a longtime friend of Nicolas Ghesquière, and Nicolas actually designed her wedding dresses. ==Recognition==