Louis Vuitton's Cruise 2020 Show Will Take Flight in New York
Many think of the airport as a source of stress with its delays and long lines, but this May, Louis Vuitton wants to make travel feel chic again. For Cruise 2020, the brand is headed to New York, with Nicholas Ghesquière's new collection set to debut in JFK Airport's revamped TWA Flight Center.
The upcoming runway romp fits within a trend of European fashion houses showing in New York, as Chanel and Versace did so in December, showing their respective Métiers d'Art and Pre-Fall 2019 collections. The world has known for a while that the Big Apple was in Ghesquière's plans for Cruise 2020, but the airport location announcement is a reminder that travel style is just as much about the jet-setting journey as the picturesque destination.
The announcement also breathes new life into the TWA Flight Center's reopening, set for May 15 as the centerpiece of a hotel featuring retail as well as bars and restaurants including Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Paris Café. The building, an official New York City landmark that has been closed for restoration since 2001, features a winged roof and tube-shaped corridors that seem perfect for the brand whose Parisian cultural center, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, attracts attention with its Frank Gehry-designed architecture. Ghesquière also has shown a taste for the futuristic in recent collections, including a rocket ship at the Fall 2018 show and space-age Spring 2019 graphics, so one can only imagine what he might dream up to mark a new day in flight culture.
With the Vuitton show marking the first event in the flight center since before it closed for restoration, the renewed JFK attraction looks chicer than ever. The clothing could align with retro flight inspiration, chic travel wear, futuristic silhouettes, or a combination of the three, but no matter what Ghesquière has decided to do, the event is going to be major.
