Louis Vuitton Is Heading to Avignon for Its Cruise 2026 Show

GOTHIC TOUCH: Nicolas Ghesquière is to parade his cruise 2026 collection for Louis Vuitton on May 22 at the Palais des Papes, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Avignon, France.

The marvel of Gothic architecture is a classified historic monument and will host a fashion show for the first time.

In keeping with its tradition of supporting local heritage and community projects in the destination cities it selects for cruise shows, Vuitton said it would help fund a project to illuminate the facades of the buildings facing the squares, including the Palais des Papes, a cathedral, the Petit Palais, the Hôtel des Monnaies and the Hotel Calvet de la Palun.

The project’s aim is to “enhance the monumental architecture and ensure the safety of the roadways around the square,” Vuitton said in a release shared with WWD.

The French house had already revealed the date of its show, but kept the city and venue under wraps.

According to the monument’s website, the Palais des Papes is primarily the work of the two pontiffs who succeeded John XII: Benedict XII and Clement VI. Works were initiated in 1335 under the initiative of Benedict XII. The papacy returned to Rome in 1377.

Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections at Vuitton since 2013, typically selects an architectural marvel as a transporting backdrop for Vuitton’s cruise shows.

Last year, he chose Barcelona’s Park Güell, the fairy-tale gardens designed by modernist architect Antoni Gaudí, and in 2023, he opted for Isola Bella, the small Italian island on Lake Maggiore that has been owned by the Borromeo family for some four centuries.

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.

The cruise 2026 collection will be available in Vuitton boutiques from November.