Travel may not be possible on our immediate agendas right now but that doesn’t mean we can’t live vicariously through our favourite brands who are bringing us to lands exotic and far with their Cruise collections.
Master of the art of travel Louis Vuitton, queen of the tweed Chanel and artist of savoir faire Dior premiered collections that encourage us to open imaginary portals to our favourite destinations and dress up for them with fresh new colours and prints. Inspirations from architecture, film and poetry lend softness and meaning to pieces that continue to stay true to each respective house’s design DNA.
Without further ado, here are our favourites.
Louis Vuitton
Nicolas Ghesquière sends his Louis Vuitton Cruise 2022 Collection on a joyous march at the monumental masterpiece Axe Majeur near Paris. Echoing the optimistic atmosphere and graphic forms of the show’s idyllic setting, the Women’s Artistic Director brings together a colorful ensemble of geometric silhouettes. Like the uniforms of an American marching band, the collection parades in a procession that is both assertive and joyful, propelling a sense of forward motion. W louisvuitton.com
Chanel
The Chanel Cruise 2021/22 show by Virginie Viard was set amongst the white limestone expanses of the Carrières de Lumières, a former quarry in the village of Les Baux-de-Provence, in the south of France. The location reflected the largely monochromatic collection, inspired by the black and white film Testament of Orpheus by Jean Cocteau, who was a close friend of Gabrielle Chanel. For today, the clean colour palettes are softened with tassels, maxi skirts and over-the-shoulder capes. Prints are reserved, on only a small handful of dresses and skirts. Not missing is Chanel’s iconic tweed, reinterpreted as both one- and two-pieces in equally muted colours. W chanel.com
Dior
A series of photographs of one of Monsieur Dior’s haute couture lines, taken near the iconic Parthenon in 1951, was the inspiration for the Dior cruise 2022 collection. In the heart of the city dedicated to Athena, Maria Grazia Chiuri reinvents her genealogy and tweaks the codes – art lies not in the object created, but in one’s ability to create – such as the peplum. The goddess tunic, evoking marble and ancient statuary, is resolutely ethereal thanks to its fabrics and handmade pleats, a chiaroscuro in fluting. A series of white suits – jackets and pants – structures a sartorial lexicon poised between classicism and freedom: the oversized houndstooth is Hellenized; cannage reveals new abstractions. Gold dialogues with white: a hood grafted onto different looks is like punctuation, an engraved inscription. Greek blue becomes both a signature and an homage. W dior.com
