First out of the gate, Louis Vuitton revealed on Thursday that its destination show is scheduled for May 23, though it has yet to disclose other details such as the geographic location and venue.
Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections at Vuitton since 2013, typically selects an architectural marvel as a transporting backdrop for Vuitton’s resort shows.
Last year, he chose Isola Bella, the small Italian island on Lake Maggiore that has been owned by the Borromeo family for some four centuries. Despite unpredictable weather, he delivered a striking collection inspired by underwater creatures of the lake.
Over the years, Vuitton cruise shows have taken place at locations including the Bob Hope estate by John Lautner in Palm Springs, Calif.; Brazil’s otherworldly Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói by Oscar Niemeyer; Kyoto’s Miho Museum by Ieoh Ming Pei; the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence by Josep Lluís Sert, and the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York by Eero Saarinen.
Cruise represents a key delivery for luxury brands as the collections have a long selling window straddling several seasons, and often dedicated campaigns and extra distribution via pop-up stores.
While destination shows were scuttled during the coronavirus pandemic, they have come roaring back, with Chanel taking its Métiers d’Art collection to Dakar, Senegal, Dior showing its men’s pre-fall collection in front of the pyramids of Giza in Egypt, and scores of brands heading to Italy over the summer.
Vuitton usually unveils its spring and fall womenswear and menswear collections in Paris, but it has also staged “spinoff shows” as far afield as Bangkok, Miami and Shanghai. It plans to stage its first runway show for the men’s pre-fall collection in Hong Kong on Nov. 30.
Source : WWD
