Flight mode: Louis Vuitton is paying homage to the maison’s travelware roots
Louis Vuitton may have first released its emblematic luggage trunks back in 1858, but the brand’s new “Flight Mode” collection feels like a modern homage to the French maison’s travelware roots. The classic, archival feel is a characteristic move from the brand’s creative director for womenswear, Nicolas Ghesquière, whose dedication to Louis Vuitton’s history can be seen in many of his recent collections. This one, however, feels as attuned with the fashion house’s identity as ever. With vintage-style travel patches smattered throughout, the collection features a capsule-style ready-to-wear wardrobe, as well as a weighty dose of luggage cases and leather goods.
The brand is no stranger to making their monogram pop with a standout overlay pattern, and “Flight Mode” is no different. What makes the travel patches motif sing, however, is the association with the Élysée Palace — Paris’ first luxury hotel built in the Art Nouveau style in 1896. You can spot the historic stamps on the collection’s monogram canvas bags, such as the Keepall and Side Trunk, as well as its passport holders and travel cases. Adding to the historicism of the collection, the canvas seen across the luggage and leather goods is a reproduction of the material used for the original late-19th-century trunks, which comprises cotton and linen, topped with a lightweight resin coating.
While the concept for “Flight Mode” harks back to the origins of opulent French travel, the Summer 2024 collection also looks towards the future of the brand. Currently, Vuitton is in the process of transforming the historic Élysée Palace into their first hotel, a move which signals their second foray into hospitality; it was back in 2022, of course, that Vuitton launched their temporary ‘LV Dream’ store-come-gallery-come-café in 2022. What’s more, while under construction the palace has been placed under a facade of a classic LV-embossed luggage case — to put it simply, the “Flight Mode” collection is very on brand.
