Seems like we’re all collectively purchasing tickets to the US for fashion’s biggest cruise shows, who needs exotic locations anyway? The world’s too far, luxury’s staying stateside now. Turns out, these runways aren’t about escapism anymore, they’re simply about making sure the right people see the right clothes.
Chanel’s Métiers d’Art 2026 show flew first class to NYC, and Gucci and Louis Vuitton are following for their Cruise shows, Dior’s heading to LA, and for Moncler FW26, even Aspen is suddenly fashion’s new darling. Coincidence? Sure. And I also believe brands pick show locations based on spiritual alignment and not sales charts. Maybe it’s the double-GDP factor. Maybe it’s the fact that luxury sales in China and Europe are flatter than last season’s loafers, while the US is apparently the one market that didn’t get the memo about slowing down. Or maybe, just maybe, brands simply prefer staging multimillion-dollar shows where the audience hasn’t tightened their Birkins shut yet. When Hermès opens stores in places like Nashville and Scottsdale and the top 1% believes cash grows on trees, Cruise shows naturally migrate to wherever those trees are planted, fair enough.
Destination shows were about mystery, daring locations, literally inside the 7 wonders of the world, (Dior, Pyramids of Giza 2023), at beaches (Jacquemus O’ahu 2022), nature (Jacquemus, Provence 2019), monumental backdrops (Fendi, Great Wall of China 2007, Fontana di Trevi 2016), deserts (Saint Laurent, Morocco 2017). Today, it’s mostly about where the money already lives, why fly abroad when your buyers are at home? Big budgets follow bigger wallets, that’s facts. But if I’ve learned one thing, everything money-related in fashion comes with a cost, and that’s never counted in euros, let alone dollars. There’s such a fine line between weaker markets getting ignored and stories getting simplified, the more predictable the route, the more it looks tailored for engagement, not imagination. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not always a bad thing, but does creativity really need Wi-Fi validation that much?
