Louis Vuitton womenswear designer Nicolas Ghesquiere took inspiration from folklore and travel for a fall/winter collection packed with shaggy coats, furry hats and frills, presented in a courtyard of the Louvre on Tuesday (March 10) the last day of Paris Fashion Week.

Models marched down a catwalk against a backdrop of jagged green shapes evoking mountains, carrying branches draped with handbags or hoisting huge wicker baskets overhead. 

Ghesquiere told journalists that the clothes were meant to "transport you freely through the world, like nomadic people, almost - so there was really that idea of this universal folklore."

He said the collection was about silhouette, architecture, and "collective images".

Guests climbed a stairway to enter the huge glass show space in the Cour Carree, one of the main courtyards of the Louvre, the world-famous museum that was formerly a royal palace. The stark green set was designed by Jeremy Hindle, known for the dystopian TV series Severance.

Skirt sets in thick check fabric featured paintings of lambs by Ukrainian artist Nazar Strelyaev-Nazarko, while trousers featured fur trim along the seams or ended in frills just below the knee, like bloomers. Accessories included backpacks, both large and miniature, and heels meant to resemble antlers.

Several models sported shearling hats inspired by Central Asia, while jackets and coats had exaggerated shoulders with fur epaulets or fur sleeves with matching mittens, completely engulfing the models' arms.

Celebrities on the front row included actor Zendaya, K-pop star Felix, sisters Este, Alana and Daniele Haim, and American figure skater Alysa Liu, who won gold at the Winter Olympics last month.

Ghesquiere, womenswear designer at the LVMH-owned label since 2013, is among the few in fashion to have stayed in post as more than a dozen brands changed creative direction.

Louis Vuitton, known for its monogrammed leather bags, has been producing ready-to-wear collections for men and women since 1998 when Marc Jacobs was creative director.

Production: Clotaire Achi, Helen Reid, Michaela Cabrera/Reuters