Louis Vuitton holds ‘Voyager’ fashion show in Shanghai

SHANGHAI: Louis Vuitton debuted its newly-labelled ‘Voyager’ travelling show in Shanghai on Thursday night, showing off asymmetric hemlines and boxy leather vests in the country that is one of the brand’s key markets.

More than 1,000 invitees, including international celebrities like Cate Blanchett and local stars such as Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Wang, took in the pre-fall collection designed by women’s artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière.

The show was held in the cavernous concrete expanse of the Atelier Deshaus-designed Long Museum, in the riverside West Bund art district. It included pieces made in collaboration with Beijing-based artist Sun Yitian, who painstakingly paints photographs of inflated plastic animals, including ducklings, cats and rabbits. Reprints of her works were incorporated into the opening designs of the show.

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In the days leading up to the show, images of Sun’s work popped up around Shanghai, China’s most international city, projected onto the exterior of malls and plastering walls in hip shopping and lifestyle districts.

For Louis Vuitton, the largest luxury brand in the LVMH stable, China continues to represent one of the world’s most important luxury opportunities, even as a broader economic slowdown and consumer malaise stymie growth.

LVMH said on Tuesday that year-on-year sales for the quarter ending in March rose 3% on an organic basis, but purchases by Chinese shoppers globally grew 10%.

Last year, Louis Vuitton’s men’s line, helmed by Pharell Williams, staged a large-scale show in Hong Kong.