Luka Gviniashvili began collecting at a young age. When he was just sixteen years old, he founded Archived Couture in Tbilisi, Georgia, a project that reflects a collecting instinct that has never recognised disciplinary boundaries. Liturgical embroideries and ecclesiastical vestments, antique jewellery, historical sketches and ephemera, decorative arts and twentieth-century couture all exist within the same evolving archive. Each object is acquired for different reasons, whether it be historical significance, exceptional craftsmanship or simply an emotional connection.

Luka’s impulse is to collect, highlight, and share the kind of pieces that might otherwise be overlooked in today’s trend-driven archival fashion boom. Of all the designers he’s drawn to, Christian Lacroix holds a particular gravity. Over the years, Luka has built a vast Lacroix archive, spanning ready-to-wear, haute couture, accessories, invitations and other rare materials. The project naturally connected him with the French couturier, the two eventually developing a close friendship. ‘One of the things that still makes me smile is when Christian would send me an old runway image or just someone wearing his dress and ask if I remembered which season it was from. Those moments never stop feeling surreal,’ he says. The Archived Couture salon, located on a quiet Tbilisi street, has even become a physical reincarnation of what Lacroix’s Haute Couture Salon looked like at 73 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

Now based between Paris and Tbilisi, Luka shares some of his current favourite pieces across both cities.

I love this bag simply because of its iconic flame embroidery. According to interior designers Garouste & Bonetti, the motif was their creation. But while going through Christian’s early sketches, I found the same flame in a drawing he made when he was just fourteen years old. Long before it became the signature of his Haute Couture salon, it was already part of his visual language. The flame would later become one of the defining elements of the Maison, and eventually inspired our own interpretation at the Archived Couture salon in Tbilisi.

There is nothing like seeing the original idea and the finished garment side by side. Here we have a two-piece design from Christian’s Spring/Summer 1991collection photographed alongside his original sketch for the design.

This is what my dining table usually looks like because somehow the office desk is never enough. Original documents from the earliest years of the maison are among the most valuable resources an archivist can have. Very often, dating, identifying or understanding a piece depends on paperwork like this.

Spread across the table are original press releases and some other documents on top of which a haute couture bag is resting. When Christian saw my message, he wrote:

‘Just saw the couture bag on WhatsApp. Is this the one you got at an auction??? Can’t believe it, since it’s supposed to belong to the archives. I don’t remember us ever selling it. So much better in your hands!!!’

This design from Autumn/Winter 1995 has everything I love about Christian’s work: the cut, the structure, the contrast of materials, and crosses, portraits and devotional motifs used as adornments.

These two bags, photographed in our Tbilisi salon, are both haute couture. When Christian saw the second bag, he wrote to me: ‘Astonishing! You found this bag!!! In my mind it was a one-off couture piece, but perhaps we translated it into a more affordable ready-to-wear version?? Here the metal handle looks like the original by Hurel, the jeweller…He had to close his business when the couture years ended. I’ve been told all his prototypes have been auctioned…’

Does it look simple? It’s not. But I guess one needs to hold it to understand. Silk satin with densely embroidered soutache, metallic thread and beadwork that almost disappears into the fabric.

Gloves are some of the most playful pieces in Lacroix’s work. This pair from 1990 is adorned with tiny mirrors set in gilded metal frames on black suede. Could come in handy for the occasional makeup emergency.

I acquired this suit years ago through Didier Ludot, the pioneering Paris vintage dealer. It’s from the 1988 Luxe line, Christian’s demi-couture collection, and features one of the defining houndstooth patterns of the season, which at the time was modelled by his muse, Marie Seznec Martinez.