Louis Vuitton’s current Pre-Fall 2024 assortment occurred in Hong Kong. The showcase included quite a few notable elements together with opening with 23-year-old Malaysian male mannequin Ridzman Zidaine, a primary for the model and the gathering being males’s artistic director Pharrell Williams’s first pre-collection for Louis Vuitton – and the Maison’s first Males’s Pre-Fall present. As anticipated, the internet hosting metropolis performed a big a part of the gathering’s narrative. The present was staged within the metropole of Hong Kong SAR, the place native custom melds with multicultural influences whereas the town’s Victoria Harbour skyline in Tsim Sha Tsui made a notable look each on the runway and within the assortment’s marketing campaign imagery. The “dandy” clothes and silhouettes mirrored the connective energy of journey by nautical themes as seen by codes of browsing, the sailing-inpired hats and tropical floral prints which was geared toward celebrating a wardrobe that had travelled and in doing so, embraced completely different continents, thus the “from Hawaii to Hong Kong” perspective.
With Louis Vuitton’s Pre-Fall 2024 transferring to Hong Kong from Seoul, Korea the place the label held their Girls’s Pre-Fall 2023 present in April this yr, its clear Louis Vuitton is setting their sights on the Asian market. No less than for South Korea, it was evident. Having “Squid Recreation” director Hwang Dong-hyuk work on the beautiful backdrop results alongside actress Jung Ho-yeon who opened the present, it was evident that Louis Vuitton was leveraging on the (okay)pop-culture zeitgeist whereas additionally sustaining ties with their Korean ambassadors and legions of followers who observe them. Quick ahead to Louis Vuitton’s Pre-Fall 2024 assortment, and a query is raised why Hong Kong and why now?
Over current years it appears as if South East Asian international locations the likes of Thailand, Philippines and Singapore have emerged as style contenders within the area, overtaking Hong kong because the “new” Asian hub. In India we noticed Dior take their Fall 2023 present to Mumbai taking inspiration from Rajasthani embroidery, Indian craftsmanship and the nation’s huge manufacturing of textile and elaborations.
The place Dior took the artisanal route, specializing in couture parts, Louis Vuittion took Hong Kong as a springboard and never a lot a literal interpretation. The gathering didn’t embody a contemporary tackle native, conventional dressing as an example however quite used to location to drive residence the fashionable “sailor”, “surfer” and “fisherman” tropes which, whereas executed superbly with denim bomber jacket embellished
with pearls and crystals, nature-centric motifs and the usage of the Damier Heritage sample to seize the naval essence of the gathering, the placement may have been interchangeable with nearly any seaside location.
Some newsites refered to the showcase as a “Renaissance of the town” as “Hong Kong bids to regain centre stage as style capital” referring to Hong Kong’s efforts to take care of its style ecosystem and cement its standing as international luxurious hub. Hong Kong can also be supported by monetary backing from the goverment. The Tradition, Sports activities and Tourism Bureau was chargeable for offering governmental assist for the present, one other factor that differenciates the Hong Kong from its extra conservative regional counterparts. This effort comes because the South China Morning Publish reported final month that Hong Kong has the potential to turn out to be Asia’s premier style stage, significantly for sustainable style. This was based mostly on Hong Kong’s want to guard the atmosphere and scale back waste, sustainable style is poised to switch quick style whereas maintaining in thoughts the worldwide shift in the direction of environmental safety.
Hong Kong’s spending energy is to not be uncared for as effectively. Hong Kong’s luxurious market made a robust rebound in 2023, efficiently recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. An August 2023 report titled “World Marketplace for Luxurious Items” by Euromonitor, a London-based market researcher, revealed that Hong Kong has regained its spot because the market with the best per capita expenditure on luxurious items.
Components of this text have been referenced from the South China Morning Publish.
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