Highlights of the fashion world during the pre-collection period, with the cruise collections of Europe’s leading luxury brands preferring the old continent to charming faraway climates. While Max Mara and Gucci play the Italian card, Dior and Chanel surprise everyone by also choosing the transalpine region.
Naples, Florence, Rome, and Lake Como…
This year, the destinations for the cruise shows are taking on the air of postcards, or rather “cartoline,” evoking the Dolce Vita. As a result, many luxury fashion houses are choosing to hold their presentations in Italy.
While Louis Vuitton has opted for a region that has so far been off the French luxury radar, Occitanie, with the Palais des Papes in Avignon, Dior is offering Maria Grazia Chiuri a finale that promises to be highly emotional in the heart of her hometown during the Holy Year of the Jubilee: Rome.
Invitation to travel
First appearing in the 1920s, cruise collections were designed to cater to wealthy customers fleeing the first frosts of winter to embark on sunny cruises in the southern seas.
The between-seasons wardrobe was initially the prerogative of designers such as Coco Chanel and Jean Patou, who wanted to seduce American high society.
As travel became more accessible, these collections lost their splendor, only to return to the forefront with the great names of modern luxury in the 2000s.
A highlight of the fashion calendar outside the official schedule, cruise collections offer designers greater freedom in terms of both aesthetics and inspiration. Social media amplifies the phenomenon, and the choice of destination becomes almost as strategic for brands as the collection itself, if not more so.
The location is never chosen at random: it may be rooted in the DNA of the fashion house and its designer, or even in the artistic director’s own background, as in the case of Maria Grazia Chiuri for the Dior 2026 pre-collection. Or it may be driven by ambitions for geographical expansion or market reconquest, as with Chanel in Hong Kong for its 2024 pre-collection…
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Featured image: from left to right – Lake Como, Royal Palace of Caserta and Rome, the respective locations of the 2026 cruise shows by Chanel, Max Mara and Dior © Unsplash
