On the one hand the desire to make stops in strategic markets, on the other the desire to amaze i top client showing their collections in breathtaking places. From yet another the opportunity (to be seized, ça va sans dire) to create new content to share on social networks by collecting views e like, generating interactions and, albeit to a much lesser extent, sales. These are some of the reasons that for a decade now have pushed the maisons – once the most traditional of fashion months that takes everyone in sequence to New York, London, Milan and Paris is over – to set off for fabulous destinations , often exotic: from the Pyramids of Giza to the Niteroi Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio de Janeiro. Just as often Italian: Venice, Rome, Capri, Lecce, Noto are just a few.
The magician of fashion shows in memorable places, as we know, was Karl Lagerfeld: the first to have brought a collection to the Great Wall of China (in October 2007, with a memorable show by Fendi) and another to communist Cuba (this time with Chanel, in 2016). And if for a few years Alessandro Michele competed with him – who brought Gucci first to Westminster Abbey in London, in 2016, and then, last year, to the evocative Castel del Monte, a fortress commissioned by Frederick II of Swabia near Andria, in Puglia – despite its farewell to the “front line” (for now), once again this year the tour of the luxury houses stops in fascinating and strategic places.
Dior in Mumbai celebrates local craftsmanship
The House Dior will present the pre-fall 2023 collection in Mumbai on March 30th. The chosen place is Gateway Of India, a monument that symbolizes entry into the country because it was built to commemorate the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary in India in 1911. And Dior’s is, in fact, the first event of this magnitude ever organized by a maison on site. The parade is a tribute to Indian craftsmanship and in particular to the art of embroidery. As reported by Business of Fashion, some garments will be embellished with embroideries made by the students of the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, a craft school aimed at women that attempts to overturn the paradigm according to which handcrafted works such as embroidery, by tradition, are reserved for men.
Chanel and Gucci cultivate strategic markets
After leaving India, the tour concentrates a series of important stages in May, the month in which companies present their cruise and resort collections: May 9 Chanel will show in Los Angeles, California, in a still top secret location which however confirms how much – whether the winds of crisis blow or not – the American market remains one of the priorities for luxury brands.
May 15th Gucci will be in Seoul with Cruise 2024. A show in Korea had already been planned for last November 1st (it should have been a repeat of the Cosmogonie fashion show in Castel del Monte) but was then postponed following the Itaewon massacre, which took place the night of Halloween. This fashion show comes at a time of transition for the double G brand: the new creative director, Sabato De Sarno, will present his first collection in September, in Milan. But it represents a way to preside over a particularly dynamic market for luxury in general and to celebrate a quarter of a century since the opening of the maison’s first boutique in Korea.