Louis Vuitton Picks Shanghai to Debut ‘Voyager Show’ Concept
Nicolas Ghesquière, who staged his first destination show for Louis Vuitton’s pre-fall collection earlier this year in Seoul, will head to Shanghai next spring, WWD has learned.
The event is scheduled for April 18 at the Long Museum West Bund, whose imposing, futuristic architecture is of the ilk Ghesquière treasures for his fashion spectacles.
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It will be the first under the new moniker “Louis Vuitton Voyager Shows,” an umbrella for the brand’s men’s and women’s pre-fall and cruise collections shown in locales around the world. Under this concept, local setting and cultural exchange are to play a significant part in each stop.
The Shanghai-based museum’s vast collection, with an accent on traditional and contemporary Chinese art, also fits in with Vuitton’s positioning as a cultural brand.
Ghesquière, who recently topped up his contract at Vuitton for five more years as artistic director of women’s collections, partnered with the luxury giant’s new chairman and chief executive officer, Pietro Beccari, to add a fourth runway show to his workload.
The first unfurled last April at a monumental event staged on the Jamsugyo bridge in Seoul.
In tune with the maison’s “spirt of travel” ethos, Ghesquière initiated destination shows for Vuitton for the cruise season, staging the first in 2014 at Place du Palais in Monaco.
The French designer has orchestrated each subsequent cruise show around an architectural marvel — buildings by John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer, I.M. Pei, Joseph Lluis Sert, and Eero Saarinen, to name a few — or a stunning garden.
China has been a particular focus in recent years for lavish Vuitton fashion events, with men’s artistic director Pharrell Williams staging his first pre-fall collection last month in Hong Kong.
Williams’ predecessor, the late Virgil Abloh, staged an outdoor fashion spectacle on Shanghai’s West Bund in 2020. Vuitton also presented a “spin-off” show for its men’s spring 2023 collection at Aranya Gold Coast, a resort town in Beidaihe that’s a two-hour train ride from Beijing.
Vuitton has done business in China since 1992, according to the company.
After being paraded in Shanghai, the women’s pre-fall collection 2024 will be available in all Louis Vuitton stores worldwide May 17.
The Long Museum West Bund contains part of billionaire couple Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei’s vast collection of artworks from around the world and across various periods. Designed by Liu Yichun of Atelier Deshaus, the structure is described as a “vault-umbrella” style, and the flowing concrete surfaces reflect the traditionally industrial surroundings.
In recent years, China has witnessed a proliferation of private museums where the collections of wealthy citizens have been opened up to the general public.
Liu and Wang’s collection at the Long Museum covers multiple categories including Chinese revolutionary art, as well as other contemporary artworks that originate from the various parts of the world, including Asia, Europe and the United States.
In addition to exhibitions, the museum fosters research work and public education.
Dior has held several events at the Long Museum before: a pre-fall women’s show in 2021, repeat of a Dior Men show in 2014, and the sprawling “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition in 2020.
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