http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=uTI69Unc6e4

Sometimes designers’ motivations behind the images they choose to represent their brands can be impenetrably opaque, but other times, the general idea is pretty obvious. Everyone understood immediately where Prada’s 1950s-car-culture-inspired Spring 2012 collection came from, for example, and the motivations behind the runway show and campaign for Louis Vuitton Fall 2012 are equally clear. Vuitton has been focusing its brand toward travel for seasons now, and in that context, having a functional locomotive on your catwalk is not exactly a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Even so, a behind-the-scenes peek is always fun, particularly when it’s narrated by Marc Jacobs and contains lots of close-up looks at the accessories and clothes from a collection that was rife with texture and variation. The one thing I don’t understand about the video, though, is when Jacobs said that the collection had a lightness to it. To me, long wool and leather topcoats, giant hats and two to four bags per model is anything but light, even if that’s not exactly a criticism. Check out the video, straight from Louis Vuitton, above.