Louis Vuitton’s Fifth Avenue Flagship Transforms Into Towers of Iconic Trunks
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Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
Historically speaking, trunk shows have always been moments to introduce luxury treasures to fresh eyes, as traveling designers took their wares on the road. Today, Louis Vuitton has put its own ambitious spin on that tradition in midtown Manhattan, wrapping its Fifth Avenue flagship (now under renovation) in a temporary façade that mimics a stack of its iconic monogrammed luggage. But at the brand’s newest Manhattan location, just east on 57th Street, there are more feats to behold. Designed by Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, four towers of iconic Courrier Lozine trunks rise to over 52 feet, each totem bearing a different pattern and structural configuration. One twists, another zigzags. The remaining rotate and stagger. “Are they hanging? Are they balanced?” muses Shigematsu, a regular collaborator of the brand. “We wanted to communicate its lightness and strength in an instant.”
Louis Vuitton | Portrait Press Preview Louis Vuitton 6E57 Store Opening
They also wanted to convey history. “The trunk is the core and gene of the brand,” reflects Shigematsu. “That is where all the innovations started to be visible.” Those breakthroughs, well known to any student of fashion, began when a young French cabinetmaker by the name of Louis Vuitton pioneered a marvelous malle—forgoing curved lids in favor of stackable flat tops and engineering a specialty waterproof canvas. “As the mode of travel changed from ship to train to plane to automobile, Louis Vuitton always adapted the idea of efficient packing,” says Shigematsu, referring to the subsequent expansion into custom wardrobes. Patterns too evolved, with the advent of the red stripe of the 1870s, the Damier check in the late 1880s, and the classic monogram at the turn of the 20th century.
Ambitious in scale and execution, the new Manhattan store is in fact only a temporary space, serving as a multiyear stopgap solution while the brand renovates its local flagship. Louis Vuitton, of course, is not one to do things halfway. Here, the vast atrium anchors five floors of retail pleasures, with a library, a café, and a chocolatier—all three firsts for the brand in the Americas. Elevator vestibules (also by Shigematsu) double as showcases for greatest hits, with wall-mounted installations of mirrored bags reflecting immersive tableaus of Yayoi Kusama’s polka dots and Stephen Sprouse’s graffiti, among other patterns. No matter where you stand, however, the towers loom large. “The atrium is the heart of the building—you see them from everywhere,” says Shigematsu. “It was a great space to do something vertical.”
The installation builds upon OMA’s trunkscape concept, which Shigematsu developed following a multiday crash course in Louis Vuitton’s legacy, visiting manufacturing facilities and poring over the archives. His initial iteration debuted at LV The Place Bangkok, a first-of-its kind flagship that incorporates galleries dedicated to Louis Vuitton’s history. There, people arrive via an arched tunnel of trunks, their corners barely touching in a seemingly lighter-than-air lattice. It’s just another of the many configurations that Shigematsu has studied in anticipation of future projects around the world. As inspiration for the Manhattan installation, Shigematsu cites the column-like works of Constantin Brancusi, though shoppers will inevitably draw their own comparisons to Jenga towers and local skyscrapers. Whatever the perceived reference points, Shigematsu notes, “we wanted to convey a sense of fun.” At 6 E. 57th St.; louisvuitton.com
Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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