A new season of Cruise shows has begun, seeing the world’s biggest brands travel to far-flung locales to show their latest offerings this May and June – a tradition originating from the collections created by Parisian fashion houses for the holidaying classes in the early 20th century. This season, Cruise 2024 locations will span Isola Bella on Italy’s Lake Maggiore (Louis Vuitton), Los Angeles’ Paramount Studios (Chanel), Mexico City (Dior) and Seoul (Gucci), among others. As ever, expect dramatic sets, colourful collections and star-packed front rows.
Here, in an ongoing round-up, is the best of the globe-trotting Cruise 2024 season, beginning with Virginie Viard’s latest outing for Chanel, which took place yesterday evening (9 May 2023).
Best of: Cruise 2024
Chanel
A vast recreation of a basketball court at Los Angeles’ Paramount Studios – decorated with the house’s double-C motif and featuring a scoreboard which pitted Los Angeles against Paris – provided the setting for Chanel’s latest Cruise collection. It followed another stateside happening for the house, the opening of ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, for which the house was the principal sponsor. Here, Lagerfeld‘s successor Virginie Viard took centre stage with a playful collection that paid ode to colourful Californian tropes, from riffs on 1980s workout-wear (Jane Fonda was cited as one of the touch points) to palm tree-adorned knits and Barbie-pink separates (several of the looks recalled the archetypal American doll, and ‘Barbie’ star Margot Robbie watched on from the front row). The ease of American sportswear ran throughout – whether in shimmering sweatpant-style trousers, 1980s-tinged short-sleeved tailoring, cut-off denim, or lamé swimsuits (leg-warmers completed the look). ‘A tribute to the glamour of great film stars… evoking the world of fun to be had with aerobics, sports and roller skating,’ said Viard of the collection, which culminated with a performance from West Coast native Snoop Dogg. ‘The idea is to offer a breath of fresh air, a voyage, a light-hearted and happy fantasy.’
Stay tuned for more from the Cruise 2024 runway shows.
